


Fever Pitch

by sakabelle



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, FIFA World Cup 2014, Football | Soccer, Forbidden Love, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-28 08:52:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 40,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakabelle/pseuds/sakabelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 2014 World Cup is the opportunity of a lifetime. For Niall Horan, playing on the Irish team is a dream come true. For Liam Payne, however, being a player for England is a burden. He's lost the excitement he once had for the game. </p><p>When these two boys meet, they can't keep their minds (and nevermind their hands) off of each other. Despite the fact that it could cost both their teams the trophy.</p><p>  <i>AKA a footie AU taking place at the World Cup in which Niall is an excitable new player on the Irish team, Liam and Louis are veterans of the English team and Niall and Liam fall in love despite being told they're not supposed to interact with one another.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much Jess for beta-ing this for me and letting me bounce ideas off of you. You're simply the best! Muah!! xx

_“GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!”_

_Completely decked out in green, the crowd stood up from their seats. They were screaming and cheering, hugging each other as they went. The entire stadium buzzed with excitement as the ball hit the back of the net with nothing the goalie could do but stand there and watch._

_Niall Horan was the most excited of all, of course. He took off on a rapid dash around the pitch unable to contain his utter delight. The smile was bright on his face and the blood was pumping through his veins. He barely felt the wind against him – at this moment he was lighter than air._

_The announcer's voice came through the loudspeaker._

_“A massive, massive goal for Ireland by number nine forward Niall Horan – with just seconds to spare in extra time! He's done it, and for the first time, the Republic of Ireland will be taking the cup home!”_

_Niall punched the air and fell to his knees just in time for his teammates to catch up to him. They toppled on him, becoming a sea of green jerseys and cleats. The crowd was still screaming and chanting, but this time it was all for him. He was the one who'd done it. He was the one who'd brought it home._

_“Hor-an! Hor-an! Hor-an!”_

_The grin was still plastered on his face, and honestly he didn't think it would wear off._

“Horan!”

Niall stirred a little but didn't wake up.

“Horan!”

The slight tinge of a smile was on Niall's face as he slept in the airplane seat with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Horan!”

He readjusted himself in the seat a little but didn't wake up.

“Niall!!”

At that, his eyes opened and he was met face to face with Sean Cullen – his best friend and teammate. Niall swallowed the sleep in his throat a little and rubbed his eyes. Once quick glance out the airplane window told him that they were on the ground.

“Mmph,” Niall muttered, still recovering from being awakened from the best dream imaginable. “Are we here?”

Sean rolled his eyes. It wasn't unlike Niall to be completely clueless as to what was going on around him – and even more so for him to just fall asleep without giving a shit about anything else. “We're here,” he said, but even in his slight annoyance at Niall's flippant attitude, he couldn't contain his smile.

Neither could Niall apparently, because the grin returned to his face. He stood up and stretch, thanking his lucky stars that he actually had room to do so on an airplane, given he's only 5'7” and all. “Man, I can't believe it,” he said with absolute awe. “We're finally in Brazil.”

“We will be once we get off the plane,” their coach said, looking back at the two boys who were too busy gabbing and musing to make any sort of motion to leave. “Come on then, we've got a long day.”

Niall nodded, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and following Sean down the aisle and off the plane. As tired as he had been when they got on the plane from Ireland that morning, it was all washed away now. Instead, he was filled with excitement and hope. His eyes lit up as he glanced at the ads on the side of the tunnel that led out to the gate. One of them for the very event they were here to participate in.

It was a simple ad for some kind of financial company that Niall was well aware was a big sponsor. It said something in Portuguese he couldn't really understand, but the patchwork ball and cleated foot atop bight green grass was enough to get his blood pumping even more.

“Look at that,” he said excitedly, grabbing Sean's shoulders and pointing towards the sign.

They were nearly past it when Sean looked, because they couldn't stop walking amidst everyone else who was getting off the plane. “Yeah,” Sean grinned. “Kind of surreal, isn't it?”

“Kind of?!” Niall gaped at him as though that was the understatement of the century. “Sean,” he said seriously, shuffling his backpack onto his other shoulder. 

Niall wasn't usually one to get serious, so Sean just raised his eyebrow and waited for his friend to continue.

“We're here to play in the World Cup. This is the biggest sporting event in the world, millions of people are going to watch it and cheer for us. Everyone in Ireland is counting on us.” Niall paused and gulped a little as he realised the uncharacteristic gravity of what he was saying. “Things like this don't happen to people from Mullingar.”

Sean studied Niall for a moment as they continued to walk silently, chatter abuzz around the two of them. Then he busted out into laughter. “Class, Horan. Real class. If things like this aren't going to happen to people from Mullingar, then where exactly are they going to get all these Irishmen to play for their team?”

Niall grinned as he considered that, and just like that his fleeting moment of seriousness was gone. He threw his head back with laughter. His laugh was infectious – it was loud and airy and always managed to fill whatever room he was in. “I guess you're right.”

“Of course I'm right,” Sean said, grinning at him.

“But you have to admit,” Niall said, his eyes shining with pure excitement. They were walking through the terminal now. People probably would have been stopping and looking at them, but no one paid them that much attention. Likely because they'd already seen loads of football players walk through the area in the past few days. “We'll be training on the very same fields that in one week, we'll be playing on. That we might win The Cup on.”

“Don't jinx it,” their coach cautioned, walking past the two of them so he could be at the front of the group.

“Aye Walshy,” Niall said, rolling his eyes with a slight laugh. “Someone's got to win it, who says it can't be us?”

Louis Walsh softened a little at the use of his affectionate nickname. One that he only allowed the players to use. “It's going to be a lot of hard work,” he said with a nod before picking up his pace to walk with the other managers at the front of the group.

“Someone's got to win it?” Sean asked, brushing his long brown bangs out of his face.

Niall shrugged, because it was true. Someone _did_ have to win it. He glanced around the airport again. His heart was aflutter as he saw another advert, and another, and another...

After years of training, qualifying matches and draws, they were finally here.

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

***

“Pass me another one of those buns, will you?”

Liam Payne looked up from his meal, mid-chew at Louis Tomlinson. Louis, his teammate who was just sitting at the table, eyeing the wicker bread basket. 

Louis raised his eyebrow and nodded towards the bowl.

Liam sighed. He swallowed his food and reluctantly passed Louis the basket from across the busy table. It was supper time – their first big meal as they had just arrived in Brazil earlier that afternoon. Tomorrow they would start training on the field as a part of the English National Team. But tonight?

Well, tonight was the first and last night of relaxation.

“Are you sure you should be eating that?” Liam asked in a slightly condescending parental tone. It's the tone he always used, and it's what's earned him the nickname among his teammates and fans as “Level Headed Liam.”

Louis rolled his eyes and proceeded to take a bun out of the basket and start buttering it. “Yes Liam, I think it'll be fine. Carbs are good for athletics you know.”

Liam shrugged because he knew that too many carbs would just bloat Louis, and he'd be hearing about it the next day when he was unable to run at practise.

“I eat like this on the regular season,” Louis said, taking a bite of his bun and obviously feeling the need to keep defending himself.

“Okay,” Liam said. “I didn't say anything.”

“You had that look on your face,” Louis said with a grin, and Liam knew exactly what he was talking about. Even when he hadn't voiced his thoughts, whatever he was concerned about at a particular moment was always written in his eyes and pursed together lips. 

Liam just shrugged again and took a sip of his water.

“Oi, lighten up Liam!” Louis laughed, ripping off another large chunk of the bun with his teeth. “We're in Brazil! On the English National Team no less. Millions of people are going to be cheering for us.”

Liam eyed him. Yes, he was excited. Of course he was excited – it was the World Cup for God's sake. The biggest sporting event in the world. He wouldn't allow himself not to be excited. However, he was also a realist. “That's what you said about the Euro,” he pointed out. “And yet millions of people were horrified and angry with us.”

It was Louis' turn to shrug, finishing his bun and clearly contemplating having another. “Well, yeah, but that's what it's like to play for England, you know. The fans are never happy.”

Liam nodded. Oh, how he knew that all too well. Playing for Chelsea, the 3rd rank team on the English Premier League didn't help that either.

“At least we don't play for Manchester United,” Louis said with a cheeky grin.

Liam had to laugh at that. No, that much was true. He watched as Louis buttered another bun and couldn't stop himself from making a comment. “Are you sure you should be eating that?”

“There it is,” Louis said with a sly grin, as though he was almost happy Liam had chastised him. “It'll be fine, I promise you.”

“And what do you think Simon will say when you can't run tomorrow morning at practise?”

Louis shrugged as he stuffed the bun into his mouth. “He'll probably say the same thing he always says. 'Absolutely dreadful. Not your best performance, boys.'” He laughed as he replaced his thick Doncaster accent with that of their coach's slight American one.

“Because it won't be,” Liam said seriously.

Louis rolled his eyes. “All this over a bun, Payne? Really?”

“Three buns, actually.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “You're far too uptight. You need to get laid.”

At that, Liam rolled his eyes. He sincerely doubted that getting laid, as Louis had put it, will solve Louis' carb bloat problem. 

“Maybe it'd help you relax a bit,” Louis said, drinking half of his glass of water in one gulp. “Because, you know, the sex. Besides, there are loads of cute boys here. And they speak _Portuguese_ ,” he winked.

Liam gave Louis a look, because not only was he completely uninterested in whoring himself out to the locals as Louis had suggested, he also didn't think that would solve any of his problems. “The reason I'm so uptight all the time is not because of a lack of sex, I assure you. It's because you drive me mad.”

“You love me,” Louis affirmed with a grin, leaning backwards in his chair.

Liam couldn't really argue with that. The two of them had been best friends for years, after all. Ever since Liam signed on to play with Chelsea and they met – they instantly clicked and it was love at first sight.

Completely platonic love, that was. Despite his demeanour, Louis was as straight as they came. There was speculation of course, given that he and Liam were so close and all. But their friendship was nothing more than a close brotherly bond.

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “You're lucky.”

Louis grinned and picked up the bread basket, shaking it a little, as if to offer one to Liam.

Liam rolled his eyes, but he sort of really did want to eat a bun. So he chuckled slightly and picked up the smallest one of the bunch.

“Simon is going to murder us,” Liam said with a nod as he buttered the bun and took a bite.

Louis shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, but it'll be worth it.”

Liam took another bite of the bun. He had to admit – it was pretty good. No wonder Louis had eaten three of them. “I suppose it will.”


	2. Chapter 2

Liam bent over, his hands gripping his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He glanced up at Louis, who was running up and down the field without a problem.

“Get back in there Payne!” Simon shouts at him from the sidelines.

Liam sighed, picking up the pace as he started running yet again.

His cleats felt like they were digging into the grass far too much, and he knew it was because he had a bit too much fun the night before. After going out for dinner he, along with the rest of the team had opted to go out for pints to preemptively celebrate the tournament.

And because he didn't usually drink, Liam definitely felt the affects of just a couple pints. Especially since the other lads appeared to be unaffected.

He was breathing heavily and he was thankful that that their warm-up drills seemed relatively easy. Simon was already annoyed with him enough as it was, he didn't need to be falling even more behind when the rest of the team were working to the best of their ability.

“Move it, Payne!” He heard Simon shout. “You're falling behind the others. Keep up.”

Louis ran past Liam with a cheeky grin on his face that annoyed Liam to his very core. “One too many pints last night?” he laughed as he flew by.

Liam threw his head back, the sweat running down his neck. 

He absolutely hated this, and he swore to himself he would never allow Louis to talk him into pints ever, _ever_ again. It slightly annoyed him to see Louis so easily sweeping around the pitch. When Liam was younger, running had been his sport of choice. He'd even had aspirations of being an Olympic runner, until he had been advised to go into football instead.

“Your kick is far stronger than your speed,” his coach had told him. “You can run, but your talent would be better used on the pitch.”

Obviously, his coach had been right because his career in Football took off exponentially. Still, he couldn't help feeling slightly jealous seeing Louis' ease at running. That had been his original dream, after all. 

Besides, if they wanted to have any hope of doing well in this tournament, much less winning it he needed to completely stay on top of himself. It sort of irritated him how lightheartedly Louis was taking this whole thing. It irritated him even more that Louis was doing just fine in their training despite his flighty attitude.

Liam took a deep breath – a cross between the need to sigh at his thoughts and because his chest was in so much pain on account of all the running and the dehydration.

Louis had told him the night before he really needed to lighten up. Liam wondered if that was true, because all the lightening up he did the night before certainly wasn't helping him now. He breathed heavily again, his chest heaving. He glanced over at Simon – he was just standing there watching them with his arms crossed over his chest as usual. Liam groaned to himself. Weren't they done ye-

A sharp noise pierced his eardrums at that thought. It should have been painful, but it was music to Liam's ears at that point. Simon was blowing the whistle; they were done. 

For today at least.

“Good work today, lads,” Simon said, nodding at them as they walked off the field towards him. He glanced at Liam and sighed. “You've got to step up your game, Payne. This isn't like you.”

Liam nodded. He knew Simon was right and he was thankful he didn't get more of a lecture. Surely Simon knew it was just because he'd been out the night before. Because that was the thing about Simon – he had a hard exterior, but Liam knew he was soft underneath.

It was exactly the type of coaching style that got him criticized during the 2012 Euro tournament, but Liam hadn't seen a problem with it. It wasn't Simon's coaching that had lost them that tournament, after all.

No, they simply just hadn't been ready. They'd barely even qualified for it. And they'd played as such. It had been Liam's first ever international tournament and it had come with all the excitement that came along with the first one of those. He'd been in awe of the other teams, been filled with excitement and joy and complete assurance that they were going to win it.

He was wrong, of course. But Liam had just seen it as an opportunity to work harder. 

Here in Brazil, the novelty had worn off a bit. Now this was just another tournament, just another field, just another opportunity to show the world what England was all about. It was just another slew of games he had to play after coming off a regular season. 

He downed half of his water bottle in one go, taking a large breath of air when he was done. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he followed the rest of the team off the pitch to go back to their hotel for the evening.

He glanced upwards – as they were leaving, another team was entering.

Liam recognized them right away as the Republic of Ireland. He smiled a bit to himself. Now here was a team who very clearly reminded him of how he'd been just two years prior. It was chock full of relatively new players to international matches. 

He and the rest of his team nodded their heads as a greeting as the two teamed walked past each other. He knew of a few people on the team, of course. Some of them played for Premier League teams he's played against, and a couple others he'd seen during the Euro tournament.

But for the most part, he realised, the team was relatively new faces.

One in particular caught his eye as he walked past. His hair was highlighted with blonde and his blue eyes brightened up as he looked at Liam and Louis. Liam only offered him a slight smile in return, but damn if that boy wasn't one of the most beautiful Liam had seen in a long, long time.

“Loads of new ones on that team,” Louis commented once they've gone past them.

Liam nodded, glancing back at them. He opted not to say anything about the boy on the team he'd taken notice of – whoever it was. Nothing was going to come of it, and Louis would probably just rib him about it for the rest of the tournament.

“Poor lads, probably thinking they're going to win it all,” Louis laughed slightly. 

He supposed Louis was right. They didn't need to worry much about Ireland – statistically they hadn't usually performed well. If things went well for Ireland, it was possible they'd be matched up against them later in the tournament. But Liam didn't think it was likely – they'd be hard pressed to make it out of group play if past tournaments were any indication.

Then again, England was also unlikely to make it out of group play if they didn't step up their game.

“Probably,” Liam muttered. He wasn't really in the mood to slag on another team with Louis at the moment. Not when he felt like such shit. And certainly not when he glanced back again to try and catch another glimpse of the cute blonde.

Louis raised his eyebrow. “What's wrong with you?”

Liam shrugged. “Just tired out. Pints,” he said, giving Louis the eye.

Louis just laughed even though he probably really shouldn't have. “Right, well,” he said, slinging his arm around Liam. “The only way your body will be able to handle pints is if you drink more of them.”

Liam looked over at him, unamused by his cheeky grin. “Maybe after the tournament.”

Louis laughed again. “I'll hold you to that.”

***

Niall pursed his lips together and furrowed his eyebrows as he wrapped a tensor bandage around his right knee. He'd injured it years ago but lately with all of the activity he'd been doing it had started to act up again.

“You sure you're going to be okay on that?” Sean asked, coming up beside him and nodding at his knee.

Niall shrugged. He wasn't actually sure – it had been bugging him off and on for the whole season. But he'd been checked out before leaving for Brazil and given the go-ahead. “Doctor said it's fine, so it's fine,” he said, fastening the bandage. “Hey, did you see who was coming off the pitch when we walked on?” Niall asked, glancing up at Sean and changing the subject completely.

Sean nodded. “England,” he confirmed.

“England,” Niall said with much more adoration. “They have so many good players on their team – I can't believe we're going to be playing on the same pitch as Tommo and Payne.”

Sean had to laugh at that. Niall, for all intents and purposes, had always been a fanboy. He was a fanboy about everything he liked, it seemed. He'd even gone so far as to drag Sean to a Justin Bieber concert when he'd finally done a concert in Dublin. “Chelsea came in third in the league,” Sean reminded him with a wink. “They're no United.”

Niall rolled his eyes. He might have been a fanboy, but he was also a fanboy with strong opinions and loyalty. Sure, United was a huge team with worldwide recognition, and were he handed to the opportunity to play for them, Niall would have been a fool to pass it up. But as far as which team to cheer for in the EPL?

“Chelsea's always been my team,” he said with a nod. “And no one, _no one_ , can run like Payne. He's lighter than air – I wish I could run as fast as him. And,” he paused to whistle a little bit. “He's really hot. When he shaved his head last year, he kind of looked like Becks. If Becks had better tattoos.” 

Sean just laughed. Niall was quite literally on an equal playing field with these guys, and he still managed to idolize them. He supposed that's what was so special about his friend – he just fancied himself a regular guy who happened to play Football for a living.

“Two minutes, lads,” Walshy said, nodding at Niall and Sean. The two of them just nodded back at him and returned to their conversation as they waited for the rest of the team to get ready.

“You know England's actually at the same hotel as we are,” Sean said with a slight wink as he looked down at Niall.

Niall looked up at him, eyes wide. “Yeah,” he shrugged, trying to play it cool. “But it's not like I can walk up to them and ask for an autograph.” 

Sean laughed because of course Niall couldn't do that. “No, but maybe you could talk to them.”

Niall shrugged, feeling slightly shy. He knew that it was a little weird how much he idolized Tommo and Payne, given that he was also a professional now. But they played for _Chelsea_ , and that was something Niall really couldn't get past. It was hard for him to not put them on a pedestal since he'd been doing that for players from that team since he was five years old.

“Maybe,” Niall mused, looking out on the pitch and taking a sip of his water bottle. 

Walshy blew the whistle, signalling that their two minutes were up and that it was time for them to start the training for the day. Niall stretched, grinning to himself as he and the rest of their team started doing laps around the pitch. He pushed himself just a little harder than normal, because if Payne was going to be running around the pitch as competition for his team, then he'd be better be in the best shape he could be to possibly play against him.

A surge of excitement and adrenaline pulsed through his body as his feet hit the grass. Even though they were here (training in Maracana Stadium of all places) it all still seemed so surreal.

***

After a long day of training the first thing that Niall and Sean wanted to do was eat. To be fair the first thing that Niall usually wanted to do is eat, no matter the circumstances. All the training just happened to give him an excuse.

The hotel restaurant was nothing less than posh, as to be expected in a place that was providing accommodations for some of the world's most adored athletes.

The first thing that Niall spotted when he and Sean stepped into the restaurant wasn't the waiter walking around with food on their plates. It wasn't the large display over by the wine rack. It certainly wasn't the light piano music playing in the background.

No, it was the two boys from Chelsea sitting a few tables deep into the restaurant who immediately caught his attention.

He grabbed Sean's arm like a teenage girl would upon sighting Justin Bieber. “Cullen,” he choked out, “Look.”

Sean followed Niall's gaze only to land upon the same table his friend was gaping at. He rolled his eyes. “Really, Horan?”

Niall just widened his eyes. He knew he was being ridiculous – but he also didn't care. Because Tomlinson and Payne were sitting in the very same restaurant that they were about to - 

“Hey,” Niall called after Sean as his friend broke away from his grasp and walked towards the table of Niall's affection.

“Right, hi,” Sean said, not really caring that the two of them were in the middle of a conversation. He glanced back, making sure that Niall was behind him. He was. _Of course_ he was. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, after all! “I'm Sean Cullen and this is my friend, er, teammate, Niall Horan, and he really wanted to come over and say hi to you, but he's a little shy so...”

Niall glared at Sean. What a stupid way to be described in front of his idols!

However, Louis just laughed. “Well, Niall, is it?”

Niall nodded, amazed that this was actually happening. 

“You're not over here to try to get winning tips from us, are you?” Louis asked with a wink.

Sean, as always, was one step ahead of him. Niall likely would have been as well, but he was far too starstruck to be witty. At that moment, just breathing was an accomplishment for him. “We don't need them, when was the last time England won the cup anyway? 1966? Neither of you look old enough to have any sort of winning knowledge,” he shrugged with a grin.

Niall's eyes couldn't have gotten any wider.

But instead of losing his mind, Louis just laughed and hit the table. “Right, okay, and when was the last time your team won it?”

Sean shrugged because Republic of Ireland hadn't ever won the cup.

Liam just shook his head at the banter between the two boys. He tried not to stare too much at the boy who was evidently called Niall Horan. The very same boy who had caught his attention when they'd crossed paths on the pitch earlier that day. The dim lights of the restaurant did little to highlight how adorable Liam thought he was – especially with the look of pure excitement that he was was trying to hide on his face. Still, Liam found himself having to concentrate very hard to on his water glass.

The last thing he wanted to do was creep the boy out. Especially since he was apparently a fan of his. That in itself was a little weird for Liam – but at least it had gotten the boy over and talking to him.

Well, it had gotten him over to their table at least. Niall had yet to say a word.

“Why don't you sit and have supper with us?” Louis said, kicking out one of the two extra chairs at his and Liam's table. “We're on a lovely diet of grilled chicken and vegetables. We could even have a pint or two,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows in Liam's direction.

Liam rolled his eyes, but quickly offered a friendly smile as Niall sat down next to him.

Niall smiled back. His palms were sweaty and he wasn't even sure that this was real life. He had to continually remind himself that Tomlinson and Payne _were just people_. People who were here to play in they very same tournament as he was.

They were equal, and this was completely fine, he told himself as he began to feel a little more at ease.

“I'm up for a pint,” Niall said with a grin.

“Of course,” Louis laughed, grinning at Liam and wiggling his eyebrows again. “You Irish always are.”

Niall and Sean glanced at each other.

“Oh, don't look so surprised. First of all, Niall is a deliciously Irish name. Second, he's wearing a clover necklace,” he pointed at Niall, “And third, ya both sound like ya stepped straight outta Dublin,” Louis said with a grin and a lousy Irish accent.

“My name's Irish,” Liam countered, shrugging his shoulders.

Louis took a sip of his water as the waiter approached their table. “Not as Irish as his. Pints?”

Niall nodded his head enthusiastically, while Sean just offered an agreeable shrug.

“Right,” Louis said, glancing up at the waiter. “A round of... Ambev? It's good.”

The others seemed to be fine with this, so Louis nodded and off the waiter went to retrieve their pints.

“So, you obviously know we play for Chelsea, and you two obviously play for clubs over in Ireland.”

“Yeah,” Niall said, feeling less shy as the seconds went on. He figured he might as well make the most of this dinner while they were sitting there. “We both play for Shamrock Rovers.”

Louis shrugged, obviously he'd never heard of them. Liam, on the other hand, leaned into the table a little. “Shamrock Rovers? That's a pretty high ranking club, isn't it?”

Niall made eye contact with Liam, and he felt his heart beat a little bit faster. Because Louis might have been his football idol, but Liam was just so damn pretty. And here he was paying attention to him. And he'd actually heard of his football club.

“Yeah,” Sean said when Niall was unable to find his voice once again. “League of Ireland champions in 2013.”

Liam and Louis just nodded their heads as the waiter returned with their drinks. “And what happened last season, then?” Louis asked with a smirk.

Liam rolled his eyes at how pompous Louis was being. He was always like that, sure, but he never missed a moment to make himself feel even more of a bigshot than he already was. 

Sean shrugged. “Same thing that happened to you lads in the 2012 Euro, I reckon.”

Louis just leaned back and laughed as Sean and Niall proceeded to order food. “Cheers,” he said, raising his glass. “Even though I'll remind you that we made it further into the Euro than you lot.”

“Right,” Sean replied as their four pint glasses met in the centre of the table. “That's just because Horan and I weren't there.”

Louis laughed yet again. As he and Sean continued their banter, Liam and Niall made a moment of eye contact. They both raised their eyebrows in a shared exasperation at how silly their teammates and friends were being.

“So,” Liam said, ignoring Louis and Sean and focusing his attention on Niall. Niall, who had yet to say very many words. Niall, whose blue eyes lit up every time he grinned.

He wanted to see more of it.

Niall kept his eyes fixated on Liam as he waited for him to continue. Sean and Louis became background noise at this point, as did the mumblings of the rest of the dining room. His heart pounded in his chest because this was _Liam Payne_ and if nothing else, even if he could get over the fact that this was one of his idols, he was pretty. So very, very, pretty.

“You're from Ireland, then?” Liam asked.

Niall couldn't help but laugh. He wasn't sure why – maybe it was because of nerves, or maybe it was because the question was so obviously clumsy that he felt a bit more at ease. 

“Yeah,” Niall nodded his head. “And you're not.”

“No,” Liam shrugged, because he knew he hadn't been overly clever or witty. So much for winning this boy over with his charm. Not that he was confident he had any of that to begin with. He glanced over at Louis and Sean, who were still deep in their conversation. “How'd you get started in footer, then?”

Niall shrugged. He couldn't think of a time when he wasn't interested in Football, really. He figured it probably started when he was five years old and his father took him to a Chelsea game.

Of course there was no way he was going to tell Liam that.

“Just always loved it, my Dad loved it too and it was something we had in common. Played ever since I was small,” he said, the smile creeping up on his face again as he remembered. “Played enough that I got drafted into the league when I was sixteen.”

Liam nodded, finding himself intrigued by Niall's simple life story. He was sure it was far more interesting than Niall was letting on. 

“What about you?” Niall asked, finishing the last of his pint (meanwhile, Liam's was still nearly full.) “How'd you end up here, drinking pints with me?” He glanced at Liam's glass. “Or lookin' at pints while I'm drinkin' 'em,” he corrected himself.

Liam just laughed. “Well,” he said in his prim and proper London accent. “I had actually wanted to be a runner.”

“No,” Niall said in disbelief, leaning in a bit closer to Liam. “But you're such a great player!” he nearly exclaimed, but calmed himself down as soon as he realized he was becoming a bit too fanboyish.

Liam felt himself blush slightly. “Yeah, thanks. I suppose my running coach though so too, because he suggested I switch to football.”

“He was obviously right,” Niall said with a nod. He glanced around for the waiter, both interested in the whereabouts of his food, as well as ordering another pint. 

Liam just smiled. “Thanks.”

Niall shifted a bit. Usually he was a million words a minute, but now he found himself rethinking every word. The last thing he wanted to do was irritate Liam, and he knew had a tendency to babble on and on about nonsense.

Then again, sitting there quietly wasn't helping him out either.

“Is it always like this?” he finally asked, after what felt like far too long of an awkward silence.

“Like what?”

“This,” Niall said, glancing around. He knew he probably wasn't conveying himself correctly. He talked a lot, that was true, but he was never one to be articulate. “The excitement and adrenaline and the rush you get when the tournament's about to begin.”

Liam shrugged. Of course he was excited, and playing in the World Cup wasn't exactly the norm – this was his first time too. But he'd been at the Euro two years prior, and the novelty had worn off a little bit.

He looked at Niall, wondering how he was going to explain that to this boy. Niall had a fire in his eyes that he was sure he'd never even come close to having when it came to Football. He loved it – of course he loved it. He wouldn't be doing it if he didn't love it.

But Niall?

It was clear that he didn't just love it. That this was his whole life – his entire world seemed to revolve around the sport, as was evidenced by his sheer determination to be drafted to a club at just sixteen coupled by his obvious adoration for players from the English Premier League.

Liam nodded, because whether it was that way for him or not didn't matter. One look at Niall told him that it would always be this way for him. “Yeah,” he smiled. “It is.”

Niall grinned, flashing off a set of perfectly straight teeth as though he was almost proud of them. Hearing that come from someone who he felt had gone so far in his career and was so well known put him nearly over the moon. The only thing that could have made it better was their food showing up.

Which it did, moments later. 

“Yeah buddy,” Niall said, grabbing his fork and digging in, but not before ordering another pint.

“My God,” Louis said, glancing down at Niall's plate and then at his own. “There's nothing of you. How are you going to eat all that?”

“What?” Niall asked, his face merely stuffed. The only thing that could distract him from sitting at the table with two of his idols was a plate of chicken and a double order of spicy chips.

“Yeah,” Sean said, rolling his eyes. “He can eat and eat and eat and never gain a pound. It never slows him down. I don't know where he puts it.”

Niall just shrugged as he continued to eat. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't a problem. He loved to eat and it didn't hurt his career at all, so why should it be?

“Well, lucky for him then,” Louis said, eating slowly. 

By the time his pint arrived, Niall was nearly done his food. Because not only could he eat a lot, he could also eat fast. 

The others will still munching away at theirs, of course. Even Liam, who couldn't help but watch as Niall finished off the rest of his food and then downed half of his second pint in one go.

Normally this sort of behaviour would have irritated him, and he couldn't figure out what it was about Niall that made him find everything he did attractive. Perhaps it was the combination of him being so attractive and giddy that did it.

Liam didn't really know. All he knew was that he was absolutely fascinated by him.

Niall looked up from his plate and caught Liam's eyes. His mind raced as to why Liam was watching him. Was he acting like a complete fool by eating so fast and drinking so much? No, that couldn't be it, because Liam wasn't really looking at him in disgust. He was just looking at him. A lot.

It made Niall a strange combination of shy and energized. His idol taking interest in him was one of the most exciting things to happen that day, and he'd just been on the pitch at Maracana Stadium, for Christ's sake.

“That was delicious,” Louis said, leaning back in his chair after finishing his plate. “Probably not as good as whatever you had, but still pretty tasty.” He stood up and wiped his hands on his cloth napkin. “I'm going to go to the bar for a pint. Come with me, Payne.”

Liam game him a look, but Louis just nodded his head, so his sighed and followed him over to the bar.

“What?” he asked with annoyance.

“That blonde one has been making eyes at you all night,” Louis said leaning on the bar as he waited for someone to come tend to him. 

Liam glanced back at the table, where Niall was delightfully taking another sip of his drink. “No he hasn't.”

“Yes he has,” Louis nodded. “And you've been making eyes at him too. You should go for it. Remember what I told you about getting laid?” he laughed.

Liam rolled his eyes, but inwardly his heart sped up. “I don't think so, he's just a fan, remember? That's all you're seeing.”

Louis ordered his pint and glanced back over at the table. “Right, well he's definitely not making those eyes at me. He wants you. Your dick is practically already in his mouth.”

“I'm not going to -”

“Whatever,” Louis said, grabbing his pint off the bar and handing some money to the bartender. “All I'm saying is that he'd do it, and you obviously need it.”

Liam watched for a moment as Louis sauntered back over to their table, downing his pint the moment he sat down. He shook his head as he followed him, knowing his friend had only wanted to get him alone so he could make a couple of rude comments and possibly show up Niall on his pint drinking skills.

“Right,” Sean said, looking at the three of them. “I'm actually quite knackered, so I think I'll be off to bed.” He glanced down at Niall.

“Uh,” Niall said. He wasn't tired at all, and he certainly didn't want to leave. Not when he was still trying to figure out how Liam was looking at him and what it all meant – if it even meant anything. “No, I think I'll stay here. Maybe have another pint.” 

Sean nodded and handed Niall a couple of bills to cover his share of the meal.

“Actually,” Louis said, standing up and making a show of stretching his arms out. “I'm tired too. You two have a lovely evening,” he said, opening his wallet and throwing some money down on the table as he followed Sean out of the restaurant.

Liam and Niall glanced at each other as their friends left.

“Pint?” Niall asked, because it seemed like the thing to do. Even though Liam still had a couple sips left in his cup.

“Sure,” Liam said, because what else was he going to say? Even though Louis had completely set them up, he really did want to stay and chat with Niall. “Why not?”


	3. Chapter 3

Niall smacked his hand on the table in a fit of laughter, causing the empty pint glasses strewn about to shake.

Four pints. That was how many it took before Liam's cheeks were red and his spirits were high.

Four pints. That was how many it took before Niall was giggling like a schoolboy and babbling like he wasn't sitting across from one his biggest idols in the world.

“I'm telling ya,” Niall laughed, looking at his empty glass and frowning slightly before going back to his story. “He was rolling around the pitch like a madman. And never, never again did he not double check that his shoes were tied up well.”

Liam held his stomach as he laughed along at Niall's story of some practice where one of his teammates had lost a shoe mid-kick, and the unfortunate series of events that followed it. 

“I've never seen anyone fall like that before,” Niall said, wiping the laughter out of his eyes. “If I didn't know any better I'd say his legs had become detached. It was so weird.”

“Wow,” Liam replied, looking straight into Niall's eyes. They were still that wonderful bright blue that they were this morning. In fact, it was hard for him to believe that it had just been that afternoon he'd gazed in wonder at the pretty boy on the Irish team walking past him.

And now? Here he was, sitting at a table littered with empty pint glasses and full spirits. 

And even though Niall had gone on and on about his career and as few as a million and one anecdotes that had come with it, Liam still wasn't sure that Louis was right. He didn't think Niall was making eyes at him. In fact, he was sure Louis was wrong and was just projecting his idea that Liam needed to get laid onto Niall. He hadn't made any sort of suggestive comment, in fact the drunker he got, the quicker he talked. That was about it.

Actually, Liam supposed his accent was also getting thicker, but that was beside the point.

As Niall started on another story – this time about some really important game, he tried his best to focus on his actions and if there was any sign at all that he might have an attraction to him.

Niall grinned as he explained the setting of the story. He used his hands to emphasize just how big the crowd had been and how wide open the arena was.

But that was all normal.

He shook his head and licked his lips as he talked, the grin ever present on his face. He kept his eyes in contact with Liam's – which was normal, Liam was sure, when you're telling a story to the only other person sitting at the table.

He started to explain someone about some manoeuvre he'd done and he hovered his hand overtop of Liam's leg.

Liam just looked at him and Niall widened his eyes a little.

Liam snapped out of it a bit, realizing that Niall must have been asking his permission to continue. Well, that was just a common courtesy. And had he been actually listening to the story he would probably know why Niall needed to touch his leg to demonstrate whatever he'd been saying.

Liam slowly nodded his head and almost instantly Niall's hand was on his thigh, squeezing it a bit and talking about some pressure that had happened to him when the ball hit him, or when he'd been running or something or other that Liam wasn't paying attention to because Niall's hand was still on him and that made it slightly difficult for him to breathe, let alone understand thick Irish words.

Niall continued talking, presumably about the rest of the story, without moving his hand from Liam's thigh. Liam almost wished he would so he could go back to concentrating on Niall's face and what he was actually saying rather than his unusually large hand for such a small boy.

“Right?” he heard Niall say.

Liam didn't answer, because he heard it but it didn't register at all.

“Right? Payne?” Niall leaned in a bit and glanced upward at Liam. “Isn't that mad?”

“Oh,” Liam nodded, even though he hadn't the faintest idea what Niall had said. “Yeah,” he laughed, trying to feign as though he'd heard it all. “Yeah, completely mad.”

If Niall figured that Liam hadn't listened to a word, he was a good actor. “Tell me about it,” he said, leaning back in his chair. He removed his hand from Liam's leg, allowing the older boy to regain his conciseness.

They had to get out of the restaurant. Otherwise Liam was sure that he was going to drink more pints and do something stupid like kiss Niall. That would be a disaster for two reasons. One, because he was sure that Niall wasn't into him at all. Two, because kissing him in public with other players and teammates scattered about was a recipe for a lecture from Simon.

And he didn't need another one of those any time soon.

“Another pint?” Niall suggested, after five seconds of silence that he couldn't handle.

“Uh,” Liam shrugged. He wanted to continue on with Niall, but another pint wasn't the best option. Then again, he wasn't exactly sure what was. 

“Or are you done? Man, you English really can't drink can you?”

Liam laughed. He was definitely not your average guy when it came to the drink – four pints had his head very nearly spinning.

Niall glanced around. It was clear to him that Liam really didn't want to drink anymore. He knew he probably shouldn't either, given that they had they had to train the next day. But he didn't really want his night with Liam to be over. Not when he was still trying to figure out if Liam was looking at him in _that_ way. Because every so often during one of his stories he'd catch Liam just watching him, as though he was studying.

Then his heart would skip a beat and he'd nearly forget what he'd been saying. If he hadn't already told those stories a million times before and knew them by heart.

He didn't know how to keep him around though if not to keep him in the restaurant. Unless... 

“I bought this beer flavoured ice cream in the airport,” Niall shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. “I haven't tried it yet, and it's just sitting in the freezer in my hotel room...”

Liam looked at Niall and tried not to widen his eyes. If he'd been looking for a sign the entire night that the boy was into him, Niall had just given him a very clear one.

Niall shuffled in his seat a bit, because he wasn't sure if what he'd suggested was completely ludicrous. But he'd been trying to gauge whether Payne was actually into him or not, and he figured an invitation up to his hotel room, masked with innocence (like _ice cream_ , of all things) was as good a test as any.

“Well, I'm on a strict no-sugar diet,” Liam said slowly, even though he had no idea why, because the moment he said it Niall's face fell. “But I suppose a little bit won't hurt.”

Niall beamed. If nothing else, at least they were going to spend more time together. He opened his wallet, pulled out enough money to cover their food and drinks and took off to the lift with Liam right behind.

He stood awkwardly, tapping his foot as they waited inside the small stall to be taken up to the 18th floor. He glanced over at Liam, who seemed to be very interested in the numbers lighting up on top of the doors.

“You ever wonder why there's no thirteenth floor?” Niall wondered aloud, mostly trying to fill the silence.

“It's because it's bad luck,” Liam responded automatically. He didn't wonder about something he knew the answer to.

“I suppose,” Niall shrugged. “But wouldn't that mean the fourteenth floor just gets all the bad luck? Since it's really the thirteenth floor?”

“I guess it's a good thing you're on the eighteenth floor, then.”

“Yeah.”

Moments later the number fifteen lit up, and with a _ding_ the doors opened. Niall pulled his room key out of his pocket before he and Liam stopped in front of room 1805.

Niall suddenly felt very awkward, and he wasn't really sure why. He supposed it was a mixture of all sorts of a weird situation. Bringing a boy he'd just met back to his hotel room against the backdrop of the biggest sporting tournament in the world wasn't exactly something he did every day.

Still, he slipped the keycard into the slot. A flash of green and the door was unlocked. Niall easily opened it, tossing his wallet and keycard onto the dresser as soon as they stepped inside. 

Liam glanced around. He wasn't sure how long Niall had been in the country for, but it was likely shorter than the month his messy hotel room made it seem.

“Uh, sorry about the mess,” Niall said, his cheeks blushing. “I was lookin' for something and...yeah...” he shrugged, because there wasn't much he could do about the piles of clothes and other random things strewn about the floor. It wasn't like he'd expected to have anyone up there.

“It's fine,” Liam said, even though if this was his hotel room he'd be going mad. Of course his hotel room would never get to such a point.

“So, ice cream?” Niall asked, because that was what they had come up here for, after all. He opened the small fridge and pulled out the little container. There were some plastic spoons on the dresser, which he grabbed as he went to sit down on the bed.

Liam sat down beside him, trying to steady his breathing. Was this boy trying to destroy him? He wasn't sure if he should just go for it like Louis had said.

Well, not exactly like Louis had said, because he'd suggested that Niall was nothing more than a good shag, and that wasn't really the type of guy Liam was.

Niall fiddled with the lid of the carton for a moment before pulling it off. He offered a spoon to Liam before digging in himself.

Liam reluctantly took a spoonful as well. He didn't really want to eat this – beer ice cream didn't sound like the most appetizing thing in the world, but it was the whole reason he was in the room. Or at least it was the excuse – so he had to keep up the facade.

It wasn't good, to say the least. It tasted how anyone would expect beer ice cream to taste, weird and entirely catering to the novelty of selling beer flavoured ice cream.

“I prefer a real pint,” Niall said, his lips red from the cold.

Liam wasn't sure he agreed with that given pints weren't his favourite thing to begin with, but he supposed it was better than what he'd just eaten. He licked his lips a bit, trying to remove the sticky sugar from them. Niall got up only to put the ice cream back in the freezer, then he was right back beside Liam.

He watched at Liam delectably moved his tongue over his lips, obviously trying to clean them off. His heart started to beat faster as he leaned in, not really knowing what he was doing, but doing it anyway.

Liam noticed what what happening only a second before Niall pressed his plump lips against his own. So he supposed Louis was right after all – Niall must have been making eyes at him. Either that or Louis had a much better radar for that kind of thing than he did. His mind was going a million miles a minute as he focused on everything that had happened and everything that was happened.

Which was this blonde little Irish lad kissing him.

But then he wasn't. 

“Sorry,” Niall muttered, looking away. “I just thought...”

“Why are you stopping?” Liam asked, unable to stop himself before kissing him again. He dragged his tongue along Niall's mouth before the blonde boy opened his slightly to allow him to enter.

They kissed slowly and easily, exploring each others mouths and touching each other softly. It wasn't until Niall shuffled backwards onto the bed, pulling Liam gently by the shirt that they moved any further.

Liam crawled on top of Niall, breaking their kiss for only a second to reposition himself. Niall sighed as he felt Liam's weight on top of him. Not only was he absolutely gorgeous, but his kisses were soft and sweet. It was the perfect combination as far as Niall was concerned.

He was so turned on that when Liam started grinding against him, he involuntarily moaned. It was so good and it was so unbelievable and deep down, he knew it was probably something that they really shouldn't be doing given the circumstances but...

He made a trail of kisses from Liam's mouth, down his neck to his shoulder. Liam just breathed heavily still moving his larger body against Niall's smaller one. 

Niall used every ounce of willpower that he had to gently push Liam off of him. He unzipped the older boy's jeans and pushed them, along with his boxers down to his knees.

He scrambled downwards on the bed to take his hard cock into his mouth before Liam stopped him.

“Don't,” he said, remembering Louis's stupid remark from earlier in the evening. If they were going to do this, he wasn't going to take advantage of Niall in any sense, no matter how much the blonde boy seemed to initiate it. “Just come up here.” He pulled his shirt off, and seconds later Niall's clothes were added to the pile on the floor.

Niall hovered overtop of Liam, sighing as their hot skin touched. He was warm, and sweaty, and so, so hard. He groaned as Liam thrusted underneath him.

They rocked against each other, fingers digging into skin until they both finally came, moaning and clinging to each other.

“Fuck,” Niall moaned, his head spinning from anything but the pints as he rolled off of Liam.

Liam breathed heavily as he glanced over at Niall. The younger boy was almost glistening, and Liam was sure he'd never seen anything quite so beautiful.

A satisfied silence sat over them as they caught their breath, before falling asleep next to each other.


	4. Chapter 4

Light streamed into Niall's room early the next morning. It was early, but that didn't stop Niall from rolling over, half-awake. The sunlight hit his face in just the right way to cause him to rub his eyes. When they opened he glanced around.

Beside him was Payne, sleeping soundly. His chest rose and fell in a perfect rhythm with every breath, and Niall couldn't help but watch.

After all, it wasn't every day that he woke up next to someone of such beauty. Hell, it wasn't every day that he woke up next to someone.

He was content just to lie there for a couple minutes, marvelling in the aftermath of the night before. He couldn't believe he had gone for it and kissed him. He really hadn't thought he'd been that drunk, but now, looking back on it, maybe he had. He certainly didn't think he would have had that kind of courage otherwise.

Niall closed his eyes for a moment more, not because he didn't want to look at Liam, but simply because this, all of this was just too surreal. He needed a moment to drink it all in.

Liam shuffled a bit, beginning to wake up. Niall opened his eyes as he felt the other boy's weight shift around the bed.

Liam's eyes opened, glancing upwards at first, but falling on Niall almost instantly.

“Morning,” he said softly, his voice still thick with sleep.

“Morning,” Niall replied, unable to help from grinning.

At this, Liam's tired face curled up in a smile as well. This sent Niall's heart into overdrive, because he was the reason for Liam's happiness first thing in the morning.

He wasn't entirely sure that this was real life.

“Did you sleep well?” Liam asked, not moving off the bed, but cuddling up closer to Niall.

Niall nodded a little, allowing Liam to wrap his arms around him. He had slept incredibly well. He knew it was in no small part thanks to the hard work in training (and the pints that followed) but he liked to think that Liam also had something to do with it.

“Did you?” Niall asked.

“Hmmm,” Liam smiled, nodded his head against Niall's chest and holding him a little tighter.

Niall kissed the top of his forehead, and sighed just a little bit with satisfaction. This tender moment between the two of them was so wonderfully unawkward. It was as though they'd woken up next to each other hundreds of times before. There was no regret lingering in the room and certainly no shame.

There was just the two of them embracing each other, trying to make their time together last a few seconds longer.

Of course, all good things must come to an end. Niall's contentedness faded as Liam pulled away from him. He watched closely as Liam sat up, rubbed his face a bit at glanced at the harsh red numbers on the bedside clock. 

It was definitely time to get up.

“I've gotta go,” Liam said, looking apologetically at Niall. “I've got to be on the pitch in an hour.”

Niall nodded, because if there was anything he understood, that was it.

Liam crawled over to Niall, their faces so close that their noses touched a little bit. “Can I see you again?”

Niall nodded and tried not to seem too eager. What a question, because of course Liam could see him again. “Yeah,” he shrugged it off as though it were no big deal. “'Course.”

Liam nodded, closing his eyes and leaning in to kiss Niall. It was an easy kiss, one that said “Good morning,” and “Goodbye,” all at the same time.

Thankfully, the “Goodbye,” wasn't going to be for long.

Liam pulled away, and Niall's heart thumped in his chest again as he watched. The English boy's eyes will still sort of droopy with sleep and his hair was a dishevelled mess, but Niall was sure he'd never seen anyone look so beautiful before that. Those things just added to his beauty, because he was completely vulnerable with Niall. Neither of them were putting on a show for the other person, they were just there.

As Liam collected his clothing, Niall rolled over and grabbed his jeans from off the floor. He dug his cell phone out of his pockets and glanced back up. He hoped Liam would offer him his phone number so he wouldn't have to ask for it.

It was funny, in a way. They'd gone so far already and here was Niall feeling shy about asking for a phone number.

Liam help onto his phone as he got dressed. Once the final button on his shirt was done up, he picked up his phone and glanced at Niall. “My number's 081-939-2947,” he said.

Niall inwardly breathed a little sigh of relief as be punched the numbers into his phone. “01-208-2098,” Niall replied, watching as Liam typed the numbers in and the slipped his phone back into his pocket. 

“Good luck today,” Liam said before nodding a quick goodbye to him.

“Yeah, you too,” Niall replied, waving a little. As soon as the door clicked shut, he flopped backwards onto his bed.

Liam's scent still lingered on the sheets, and Niall had to take a deep breath to keep his excitement from overflowing. 

He picked his phone up again, and scrolled through his contact list until he got about halfway down.

_Liam Payne  
081-939-2974_

It was hard for him not to squeal with delight.

***

“Massive goal by Welbeck, with an assist by Payne!” shouted Simon from the sidelines. He'd had the bright idea to split the players into two separate teams to play a match against each other for training that day.

Liam pounded his fists into the air. He high-fived Welbeck of course, and grinned from ear to ear and he and his teammates celebrated their goal for a short minute.

This brought them up to a 3-1 lead over the other half of their team, which was in no small part thanks to Liam's energy. He'd been flying all over the field, making passes and even scoring the goal that brought them out of their 1-1 tie. That alone was a massive accomplishment for him, given that he'd completely blown it at training the day before.

“What's gotten into you?” Louis asked once the match was over and they were walking back to their hotel. “Was he blonde?” he laughed.

Liam shrugged, because he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to spill all of the details of his night with Niall to Louis just yet. He'd been grateful that they hadn't had any time for chatter before the match started.

“What?” Louis asked, his eyes slightly wide. “Did you bang him? I told you he was ready for it. He was practically begging for it.”

“I didn't,” Liam said. Of course it wasn't entirely the truth, but Louis didn't need to know that. He was sure his friend had good intentions, but he wanted to keep his night with Niall a secret before it was sullied with Louis' comments.

Liam tried hard to keep his expression neutral as he remembered waking up next to Niall. He'd never imagined that someone could look so good first thing in the morning, but Niall had certainly proved him wrong. Not even sleep managed to cloud his bright blue eyes over. His hair had been matted down on his forehead, sticking up a little in the back, and his pale skin had been dented with marks from the comforter. Liam swallowed a little, because the memory was almost too much for him to handle.

Trying to not think about Niall so he didn't grin in front of Louis just forced his brain to focus on the Irish lad even more. Not that he hadn't already been on cloud nine because of him all day. Waking up next to Niall had done wonders for his attitude and energy. The best part about it was how comfortable Niall had made him feel. In that hotel room with him, things were easy. There was no pressure and no outside world to burden him. Instead there was just affection.

Yes, Liam was certain that if there was one word to describe everything he felt about Niall, affection was certainly it.

Louis laughed loudly, interrupting the picture in his mind of Niall. “Man, you should have. It would literally have been the easiest you ever got.”

Liam just shook his head. Being with Niall was easy in all of the right ways – nothing like Louis was implying. “Maybe.”

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. In the background, he could hear Louis babbling on about something else, but he hardly paid it any attention as he read his text.

_**Niall Horan:** massively pumped for training this afternoon ! Hows urs goin?_

Liam stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He would text Niall back as soon as he was safe in his hotel room. For now, he just smiled and looked up at the sky.

***

“Boys, that was a wonderful, wonderful day!” Walshy said in his delighted Irish accent. He clapped his hands together once as the entire team looked up at him.

It was unlike Niall to let his mind wander during a post-match discussion, but as he sat in the conference room in the hotel, he found himself desperately wanting to check his phone.

Walshy went on and on about their training camp, talking about the good points, of course, and focusing on the mistakes that couldn't happen again. It was standard. This happened every time they trained and after every single match they played – and Niall was usually hanging onto every word. Then when the discussion was over he'd recount everything and try to apply it to his own performance.

This time he found himself with his hand in his pocket, as though his fingers touching the screen of his phone would be able to tell him if he had a new text message and what it said.

The wise words of their coach became just background noise as Niall's mind drifted back to Liam. He wasn't even thinking about the night before – it was more just Liam himself. Liam's soft smile and the way his eyes crinkled up, his perfectly polished English accent and of course, his plump lips.

Niall tapped his foot a little, trying to bring himself back to the present. He tried as best he could to focus on what Walshy was saying. They'd done a good job of defence but they needed to be more aggressive. They had to work on their passing because a missed pass could change the entire game.

It was pretty normal stuff that he'd repeated to them time and time again. Niall found himself bored with all of it, which was strange. He'd had an absurd amount of energy out on the field – he was sure he'd run faster than ever before. Obviously that had been a side effect of being on cloud nine... which had been a side effect of Liam.

And so, his mind began to wander off again. So much that when their meeting was over, Sean had to nudge him to get him up off his seat.

“Since when do you daydream through those?” he laughed, giving Niall a bit of a look as they broke off from the rest of the team. “Usually you're practically taking notes.”

Niall shrugged. “Just tired out, I suppose.”

Sean nodded. “I'll bet. You were flying around that field. Never seen you move so quick before.”

Niall grinned. Even though he felt that he'd done really well, it was nice to hear from his friend. “Thanks, mate.”

Sean shook his head. “Don't know where you get all of your energy from, mate. How many pints did you have last night, anyway?”

“Uh, a few more.”

“Right,” Sean said, patting Niall lightly on the back as they stepped into the lift to go to their floor. 

Niall tapped his foot on the floor and looked up at the numbers. They lit up one by one in succession. When they hit the ninth floor, Niall felt a buzz in his pocket.

He reached in to pull out his cell phone and grinned when he saw the message on his home screen.

**_Liam Payne:_** class :) u free later? X

Niall looked over at Sean, who had been watching the lights in the lift as well until Niall's eyes were on him. Niall fumbled a bit with his phone as Sean looked at him. 

“What?” Sean asked him, laughing. 

“Nothin',” Niall said with a shrug, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. He wasn't about to start gushing about text messages of all things to his best friend. Liam could be his little secret for now. 

Sean nearly read Niall's mind as his eyes followed the phone back into Niall's pocket. “Who's texting you, then? Ali?” he asked with another laugh.

Niall shook his head. He certainly wouldn't be in such a giddy mood if it had been Ali who was texting him. His childhood best friend never seemed to get it through her head that he wasn't interested in _her_ type. “No,” he said.

Soon enough they were on their floor and Niall couldn't rush off to his room fast enough. He didn't want to field anymore questions from Sean.

“Supper?” Sean called after him.

Niall stopped in his tracks, needing to come up with an excuse.

“Can't,” he said, making a show of stretching. “Knackered. Gonna have a shower and head to bed. You know, pints.”

Sean raised his eyebrow slightly, because it was completely unlike Niall to head to bead early on account of a few pints the night before. But he didn't say anything. “Alright, man. I'm gonna head down to the bar with some of the other lads then, if you change your mind come join us.”

“Right,” Niall nodded, even though he had no intention of doing that. “Night.” he rushed into his room and shut the door.

He leaned back against it. Being so secretive should have told him that he was on the path to no good. Before they'd left for Brazil, they'd been told on no uncertain terms that they were to keep their interactions with the other teams to a minimum, if at all.

Obviously he'd been so starstruck the night before that he'd ignored that little piece of advice. Plus, it had been Sean who had gone over to Louis and Liam in the first place. And Louis had been the one to invite them for drinks. So really, Niall was doing nothing wrong.

He nodded assurance to himself as he texted Liam back.

**_Niall Horan:_** ya i'm free. Supper somewhere other than that hotel restaurant?

Liam texted him back right away, which filled Niall with more glee than it probably should have.

**_Liam Payne:_** i saw a Nando's a few blocks from here?

**_Niall Horan_** : i'll meet you there in 30?

**_Liam Payne:_** see u then :)

Niall leaned his head back against the hotel door. He was going to end up in too deep and the water was already above his head.

***

Liam checked his phone for the tenth time since he'd arrived at the restaurant. He knew he'd gotten there fifteen minutes early – but it still didn't stop him from watching the door.

Of course not everyone was as punctual as him. Niall was no exception, strolling into the restaurant five minutes after they'd agreed to meet.

Liam couldn't be too unimpressed, though. Not with Niall's bleached blonde hair pushed off to the side of his head, hiding his significantly darker eyebrows. Especially not with the way the red polo shirt he was wearing contrasted against the light colour of his skin. There was also the matter of the khaki shorts he was wearing that showed off his toned legs.

Liam had it bad for Niall – and he knew it. The whole day he'd been far more interested in thinking about Niall, wondering if Niall was busy that night and whatever activities they would get up to than the actual tournament.

He waved Niall over to the small table. As soon as Niall noticed him his face lit up with a grin, showing off his perfectly straight teeth. 

“Hey,” Liam said, trying to seem far more casual than he felt. 

“Hey.” Niall plopped himself down in the chair across from Liam. That was another thing Liam adored about him. The way he carried himself just seemed so free and easy. Like he didn't have a care in the world. 

“So, Nando's?” Niall said, not even bothering to look at the menu. “A boy after my own heart.”

“Yeah?”

Niall nodded as the waitress came over to take their orders. “I'll have a medium peri peri chicken, two side orders of chips and an iced tea.”

Liam just chuckled to himself. Obviously Niall had been to Nando's before. “I'll have the same thing, but with only one side of chips.”

She nodded and walked off.

Liam looked at Niall, unsure of how he should start up a conversation. Lucky for him, Niall was chatty as ever.

“Great training today,” Niall said with a nod, the smile ever present on his face. “They said I was flyin' around the pitch. Never felt so good in my life. I really think we've got a shot, you know. I mean, I know that they say Republic of Ireland have no chance of even making it out of group play, but I think we can. Look at us, we didn't even qualify last time and now here we are.”

Liam just nodded along with Niall. He didn't really know what to say. It was weird because he was happy for him, and he wanted to tell him that yes, Republic of Ireland did have a real shot, and he did hope that they won it. Even though such a thing really should have been the opposite of his own feelings.

It sort of was, but not really. Just because Niall's team had a chance of doing well didn't mean his team didn't. It wasn't like they were likely to play each other anyway.

Were they?

“What group are you in?” he asked, even though he probably should have already known.

“C,” Niall answered, playing with his napkin a little bit. “Yeah, I know what you're thinking. It's possible we could be matched up, but I wouldn't worry about it. You guys always finish first in your group, and like I said, I think we're going to go far. Finish first in ours too. No problem.”

Liam nodded. He wasn't sure how much he believed Niall. There was always the possibility that his team could come in second in their group – or not even make it out of group play.

He mentally berated himself a little bit. If Simon knew he was thinking like that he'd be in for a lecture. 

“How did your training go?” Niall asked, looking at Liam.

Liam shrugged. He wished he could be as excited as Niall was – he really did. He didn't even know why he wasn't. Maybe it was because the novelty had sort of worn off for him and this was just a job now. He wished that wasn't the case, because he knew there were probably millions of lads who would kill to be in his place.  
Including some who played for his club.

Though, he had played pretty well that day.

“It went well. Got a good assist.”

“Ah yeah.” Niall leaned back in his chair. “That's good.”

Liam fidgeted a little bit. As much as spending time with a member from another team was frowned upon, discussing their training was probably much, much worse. So he shifted the subject. “You're in Dublin, then? I mean, you live in Dublin?”

Niall nodded. “Yeah, got a flat there. My family's in Mullingar though.”

“Where's that?”

“It's an hour out of Dublin or so. Nice little town, not so small that everyone knows everyone, but small enough, you know?”

Liam couldn't say he did know. He'd grown up in Wolverhampton, which was far bigger than the town Niall was describing. He shook his head. “I've never lived in a place so small. And now I live in London, so...”

Niall nodded, and Liam couldn't help but smile at his wide blue eyes. “Yeah, London. Only been over there once, but it's not small.”

“Nope,” Liam said, taking a sip of his water.

“I don't mind being in a place a bit larger though,” Niall continued on. “Dublin, I mean. I don't see my family as often, but there's a lot more to do over there, plus, you know, hard to play league footer when you're in a place so small.”

Liam nodded along as Niall talked, a whole new flood of questions entering his mind. What was his relationship with his family like? Did he truly miss them, or was he happy to be away from them? What about his friends back in Mullingar, and had he made a lot of new ones since moving over to Dublin? He wanted to ask Niall all of these things and more, but he didn't open his mouth. Instead he just let him talk, opting to not interrupt the flow of conversation.

However, Niall's babble about playing for the league was eventually interrupted by their food showing up.

And once again, Liam was amazed at how quickly such a small person could inhale a plate of food meant for two people.

“That was fantastic,” Niall said after the two of them were finished eating. He rifled through his pockets, pulling out some money and dropping it on the table. Liam went to reach for his wallet as well, but Niall held up his hand. “I've got it,” he said.

Liam could swear he felt himself blush. “Oh, uh, thanks.”

“No problem.” Niall glanced around quickly and then looked back at Liam. “Let's get out of here, yeah? Walk around a bit.”

Liam couldn't argue with that logic. He followed Niall out the door of the restaurant and slipped his hands into his pockets. What he really wanted to do was slip his hand into Niall's, but he was also worried about coming across as too forward.

Niall seemed to be completely at ease though, as they walked along the street silently. There were a few shops and food stands that they walked by and took a quick look at. It wasn't until they stopped in front of a club that was booming loud music that Niall wiggled his eyebrows at Liam.

“Do you want to go inside?”

Liam shrugged. He'd never been much for clubs, but he supposed it couldn't hurt. Besides, he was at a loss as to what else he and Niall could do. Besides the obvious, of course, but he actually wanted to spend some time getting to know the boy outside of the walls of his hotel room.

Niall grinned and pulled Liam into the club and onto the dance floor. There were people everywhere, alcohol flowing and neon lights in abundance. It was a strange and unfamiliar atmosphere for Liam, but Niall seemed perfectly fine.

“I don't really know how to dance,” Niall admitted with a laugh as he stood across from Liam, trying to move along to the music.

Liam laughed a little bit, because he really didn't know how to dance either. He supposed it didn't really matter – it wasn't like anyone was watching them at all. They were all caught up in their own groups. So the two of them just moved semi-awkwardly to the music, allowing the drunken atmosphere to remove their inhibitions.

“Ah, I love this song!” Niall exclaimed a few songs later. Liam recognized it as Justin Beiber's _As Long As You Love Me_. It was a more dance-heavy mix of the song, but that didn't stop Niall from pulling Liam close and dancing with him, swaying along to the music.

_“We're under pressure,”_ Niall sang, grinning as he let the music surround the two of them. _“Seven billion people in the world trying to fit in...”_

Liam closed his eyes and allowed Niall's voice to replace Justin's. It wasn't difficult, given his mind was completely consumed with him already.

The two of them danced with each other easily, Niall singing along to every single word as he knew the song by heart. Niall's hot breath formed every word perfectly, making Liam's head spin.

_“So don't stress, don't cry, we don't need no wings to fly. Just take my hand...”_ Niall's Irish accent came sifting through the words ever so slightly, and Liam couldn't get enough of it.

“As long as you love me... you love me...”

When the song was over, the two of them opened their eyes. They were sweaty and breathing heavily as they stared at each other. Another song blended into the background, but neither of them noticed it. 

Liam cocked his head towards the door, and Niall nodded in slow agreement. Liam grabbed his hand and led him out of the crowded club and back down the streets to the hotel.

“You're a really good singer,” he said looking at Niall.

Niall shrugged and looked at the ground. “Thanks,” he replied with a slight grin.

“This is sort of silly,” Liam said with a laugh. “But I'd always sort of thought about auditioning for X Factor. I'd probably never make it, but sometimes I thought about giving it a go.”

Niall just laughed a little, glancing up at Liam a bit and nodding. “Yeah?”

Liam shrugged. He'd never actually given it any serious thought, and he couldn't believe he was actually admitting this to Niall. It was just something he'd daydreamed about when singing along to the radio or watching the auditions on the telly.

“You never hear from anyone after they're done with that show anyway,” Niall said, clearly trying to reassure Liam.

“Yeah, you're right.”

It wasn't long before they made it back to the hotel. This time Liam took charge – pressing the number 12 in the lift to go up to his room. 

“What?” Niall asked with a cheeky grin. “My room wasn't good enough?”

Liam shook his head, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he closed the door behind him, kissing Niall the moment it latched shut.


	5. Chapter 5

_Liam pressed his lips against the tender skin of Niall's neck. Niall's body tensed up and he closed his eyes shut, focusing on the soft sensation._

“You lads were weak on the field today, your defence was good but we need to be more aggressive.”

Niall nodded along with the things his coach was saying but as it had been the day before, his mind was elsewhere. He tried his best to pay attention, but his mind kept drifting back to Liam.

_Niall drew in a sharp breath and Liam palmed his erection. If he'd had his eyes open, he would have known it was coming, but the surprise sent a shiver down his spine, causing his blood to pump faster._

“We can keep up a good front against another team with the defensive tactic, but if we're not aggressive we're not going to score points. The only way out of group play is to win games, and we won't win anything if we tie nil-nil.”

Niall knew he was right. He'd been trying his best out on the field – it was like he became another person on the pitch. He was able to focus on the goal and the game but as soon as he stepped off the pitch his heart was back with Liam.

It was beginning to frustrate him.

_Niall shuffled out of his shorts and tossed them onto the floor. He nibbled on Liam's shoulder as Liam dipped his hand inside his boxers._

Niall ran a hand through his damp hair, trying to focus his thoughts away from his activities of the night before. Because at the very least, if this kept up, standing up at the end of their meeting was going to be embarrassing as shit.

_Niall's eyes nearly rolled back into his head as Liam's strong hand gripped his dick. He could hardly find breath to moan or make some kind of noise to respond to Liam's touch._

“Oh and one other thing before we're done, I want to remind you all to keep your interactions with the other teams to a minimum, if at all.”

Niall snapped back to reality as soon as he heard that. His heart sped up in his chest and it had nothing to do with any memories of the night before.

Niall made eye contact with Walshy for a quick second, but quickly darted them away. He knew that he wasn't supposed to be getting friendly with anyone on the other team. They'd been told that in no uncertain terms when being prepped for the tournament. 

He tapped his feet a little bit and forced the memory or Liam jerking him off out of his mind. It was just a friendly reminder, he told himself. This wasn't about him and Liam, it was just something to keep in mind.

Because there was no way Walshy could know about anything that had gone on between him and Liam, right? Besides, it wasn't as though this was affecting his performance in anyway.

Niall couldn't even lie to himself about that. Hell, in that very meeting he'd been consumed with thoughts about Liam instead of listening to their coach and taking his advice to heart. 

Niall's mind raced as their team was sent off for the evening.

“Horan?” Walshy called to him, waving his hand.

Niall just looked at him, trying as best he could to keep his cool. He gulped a bit but stayed put in his seat as his teammates filtered out of the room.

Sean glanced at him as he walked out, but Niall just shrugged as though he wasn't sure of the reason he was being held back. Sean continued on without another word, and soon the small meeting room was empty, save for the player in question and his coach.

Niall slumped back in his chair a little bit to give off the aura of being his normal, casual carefree self. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at his coach.

He'd never really noticed how much taller than him he was until right that moment.

He'd also never been so intimidated by him until right that moment.

“You know why I held you back, don't you?” 

Of course he knew. But he didn't want to show Walshy that this was a bigger deal than he might have thought it was. He didn't know about his and Liam's hotel rendezvous. In fact, the only people who knew about what was going on behind those closed doors was the two of them, so really what was the problem?

So he just shrugged, and Walshy sighed. This made Niall feel even worse, because even if he liked to give their coach a hard time, he didn't exactly pride himself in being difficult to deal with. In fact, he liked to think of himself as the exact opposite.

“You've been hanging around with Payne from the English team.”

Niall nodded. “Yeah.”

“I know that we're in a bit of a weird spot since we're sharing a training camp with them, but you know the rules.”

Niall shrugged again, even though he did feel guilty. The last thing he'd wanted to do was upset their coach. They'd all worked so hard to get to this point and the last thing he wanted was for Walshy to have to deal with something that was completely outside the pitch.

“I know,” Niall said. “But it wasn't a big deal really. Cullen and I ran into him and Tommo in the bar a few days ago and we just got on real well.”

Walshy studied him for a minute, and Niall wondered exactly what his coach knew and what he might be assuming. He couldn't even be upset about it – whatever the assumptions were, Niall knew they were probably right.

“We worked really hard to get here,” Walshy said to him. “We all did, you included. I know how much you want this.”

Niall nodded again, because he really did want it, and he really had worked hard.

“Don't let anything get in the way of that,” Walshy said to him, nodding his head slightly.

Niall nodded back as Walshy walked out of the room. He wasn't about to argue – not when he knew that his coach was right.

Still, Niall's heart wasn't in the same place as his head as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. 

_**Liam Payne:** free tnight?_

Just as Niall added Liam's adorable spelling errors to the list of things that made him smile, he frowned. He had to start taking this seriously. It was the _World Cup_ after all. He'd spent his entire life dreaming of getting to this point. Walshy's words echoed through his mind as he quickly texted Liam back before he could give it a second thought.

_**Niall Horan:** can't, busy_

Niall sighed to himself. It wasn't easy – not in the least. But he wasn't going to throw all of his dreams and career away over this boy.

It wasn't worth it.

***

Liam raised his eyebrow as he looked down at the screen of his phone.

He was sure he was reading too much into things – something he usually tended to do. But he distinctly remembered making plans with Niall when he'd left his hotel room that morning.

Plus, he also remembered the two of them having a pretty good time the night before. So Niall's short response without any sort of explanation confused him.

He considered texting Niall back and played with the screen of his phone for a moment before a knock at his hotel room door distracted him. 

Louis's cheery face met him as he opened the door.

“What's going on?” he asked, inviting himself into Liam's room and sitting down on the bed. “Oh, the sheets are a mess. Interesting.”

“What do you want, Louis?” Liam asked with a roll of his eyes. He could do without his friend's sarcastic remarks. Especially when he was dealing with a whole slew of insecurities about Niall.

Louis shrugged in the nonchalant Louis way that he always did. It drove Liam slightly mad because his friend was never nonchalant about anything. He always had some kind of ulterior motive. “Just thought you'd like to go out to eat. It was a long day of training, you know.”

Liam pouted. He really did want to go out to eat – but Louis wasn't his ideal date. 

“What?” Louis asked, noticing his friend's face. “Is this about what Simon said?”

Liam raised his eyebrow, because he couldn't remember anything that Simon said, truthfully. After training for the day, he'd spent their meeting thinking about how to perfectly word his text message to Niall. “What did Simon say?”

Louis shrugged. “You know, about not getting too close with other teams while we're here.”

Liam didn't say anything, but he was sure his mouth was sort of stuck in a half-open state. If Simon had said anything like that, he was sure he would have picked up on it. Or maybe he hadn't because he was truly too lost in his thoughts about Niall to care – which really was the point Simon would have been trying to make.

“What?” Liam finally asked, his mouth suddenly dry.

“He just gave us a reminder that we shouldn't get too close with other teams, even if we've got friends on them or whatever because of our clubs. How could you have missed that? It seems like it would have been completely relevant to your... _interests_ ,” he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

Liam rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief. If nothing else, this could be a possible explanation for Niall's sudden change of heart. Maybe his team got the same reminder as well, and that was why he was so quick to cancel on him. Liam was sure Niall probably wouldn't have missed it coming directly from his coach's mouth, either.

Of course it wasn't helping that Louis had seemed to have figured this out.

“I'm sure it was just a general reminder,” Liam shrugged, picking up his wallet and stuffing it into his jeans.

“Right,” Louis said, his voice full of his signature sarcasm. He glanced over at the messed up sheets of Liam's bed again. “Because this is _so_ like you.”

Liam gave Louis an annoyed look, but he couldn't very well deny it. Louis was spot on, just as he always was. He was often so smug about it though, which was part of the reason Liam didn't justify him. That, and with this new development of having to stay away from the other teams, he really didn't want to get into the mechanics of his relationship with the Irish boy.

If he even had one, he thought wistfully. Despite knowing he wasn't supposed to be around him, Liam still felt crushed by Niall obviously being able to make his decision so easily.

“Let's go eat,” Liam said, walking out of his room with Louis following quickly behind. He pulled out his phone to shoot off a quick text message to Niall.

_**Liam Payne:** u get in shite from the coach today?_

It was only seconds later that Niall's reply came through.

_**Niall Horan:** yea, sry :(_

Liam sighed a little bit, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. Even if he was feeling frustrated with his career, he couldn't expect Niall to throw away everything he loved just for him. Especially when they'd only known each other for a couple of days.

_**Liam Payne:** its ok. Good luck in the tourney xx_

He waited a couple of minutes, but didn't receive a reply. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and glanced over at Louis. He supposed it was for the best – Niall would probably just be a distraction anyway. Hell, he'd already been enough of one.


	6. Chapter 6

Niall was face-down in his pillow that night. It was dark and the only light in his hotel room was the occasional glow of his phone. He kept looking at the last text message from Liam.

Hours later, and he was still trying to figure out how to respond to it. He kept going back and forth. At first he thought it was for the best – he lived in Dublin, Liam lived in London and after the tournament there was no way they would be able to keep seeing each other anyway.

He also didn't want to piss off his coach – he'd worked too hard for everything that was happening to him. Playing in the World Cup had been his dream ever since he'd known what football was. This had been perfect.

He groaned to himself, rolling over onto his back. So _why_ was it all of a sudden so complicated?

It wasn't like he was overly experienced with boys. Apart from a very awkward first relationship when he was just sixteen years old, he hadn't even really had a boyfriend.

He'd always just been more concerned with his career than dating. He'd always figured that he'd eventually find the right person, and there was no need to rush it. He'd just never anticipated that the right person would come along while he was on the cusp of everything he'd ever wanted.

Then he back-peddled in his own thoughts. How could he even begin to think of Liam as the right person? They'd literally been out twice. They hardly even knew each other.

It wasn't even that he wanted what he couldn't have – he wanted Liam _so badly_. He'd wanted him badly before Walshy had said anything, and the warning only caused confusion and anguish. It didn't make Niall want Liam more – it just made him feel worse about his feelings.

He looked down at his phone again and clicked the button to turn on the screen. 

Liam's text stared him in the face.

Niall started to type out a reply, but he got as far as _I don't_ before sighing and rolling over again.

He didn't what? He didn't think it was fair? That wasn't entirely true – he did think it was completely fair for him to not be expected to make friends with someone on the other team. He didn't want this to end? That was true – but it sort of had to end, didn't it? 

He didn't even know how his coach knew about him and Liam in the first place. He supposed he'd been tipped off because they'd likely been spotted by someone when they were out the night before. That made sense, since Liam had asked about it – meaning he'd likely heard about it as well and been given the same warning.

Niall sighed and closed his eyes. He was a big boy. Twenty years old. Plenty of time for love and he didn't need to be dwelling on such things where there were much more pressing matters.

Like the world's largest sporting tournament, for one.

***

Liam was sick of training camp the next day before it had even begun.

For starters, he was annoyed about the entire Niall situation. Because of that, he hadn't slept well the night before. All through breakfast he'd been yawning and had been yearning for a cup of coffee. Of course, he was on a strict diet that absolutely did not include caffeine before practice.

He was sluggish on the pitch, taking more breaks than he should have been. He even found himself not paying attention at all a couple of times, the ball in the complete opposite direction of where he was.

He knew he was probably being overly childish about the whole thing – but he couldn't really help it. He hadn't been keen on the tournament in the first place, Niall had been a potential ray of sunshine about it all, and now everything seemed to be dark and cloudy again.

Pathetic fallacy seemed to be the theme of the day as the light drizzle turned heavier. Once it started pouring, Simon had no choice but to tell the boys to call it a day.

“Lucky that, isn't it?” Louis asked with a laugh, running a towel overtop of his wet hair. “You were right out of it today.”

Leave to to Louis to put everything ever so bluntly. “Thanks, Louis,” Liam said, slinging his own towel over his shoulders as they walked through the hallway of the hotel.

“I mean it,” Louis said, looking at Liam sincerely. “Is everything alright?”

Liam eyed Louis, and for a split second he considered telling his friend everything, until he realized that everything was really nothing. There was nothing but attraction between him and Niall – it wasn't like they had some deep connection. There really hadn't been enough time for them to be able to form one.

Which was part of what Liam was annoyed with, but he didn't know how to convey that to Louis without his friend laughing and congratulating him for getting laid.

So instead he just made a show of looking tired. “I'm just knackered,” he said. “Didn't sleep well and I think all the travelling we did is starting to catch up with me. Sleeping in hotel rooms and all that.”

“Right,” Louis replied, looking at him a little bit oddly. “Well, get some sleep then. I'm going out with the others, we'll be downstairs having a pint if you want to join.”

Liam nodded and headed into his own room. Yes, he was tired, but the last thing that was on his mind was sleep. As had been the case for the entire day, the only thing at the forefront of his mind was Niall.

Niall, who was probably in his own hotel room because his team likely wouldn't be able to train in such weather either. He wondered if Niall was feeling much of the same way. His brain went back and forth weighing the possibilities. Niall _had_ seemed really into him, and Louis was right about him idolizing him. At least in that regard, Niall was probably thinking about him. But he probably was more concerned about his career than some stupid fling.

There was no way Niall could be thinking of what they had (or possibly could have) as some stupid fling, was there? The conflicting thoughts perilled Liam's mind until he couldn't take it anymore.

***

Niall had never much liked rain. He'd gotten used to it, of course, given that he lived in Ireland. It literally rained in Mullingar every second day, and grey skies were prominent most of the rest of the time. Still, that didn't mean he liked it, and he especially didn't like that it was preventing him from training for the most important month of his life.

Because that's what it was, and he wasn't going to allow Liam or Walshy or any stupid sexual desires to take that away from him.

Although, he had to admit it was sort of ridiculous. Walshy was so concerned about his relationship with Liam, when rain was hurting their training more than his relationship with the other boy had.

It was almost laughable. Niall wasn't usually annoyed, but he found himself growing even more irritated as he watched the water splatter against his hotel room window.

There was a knock at his door, and it distracted him momentarily. It was probably Sean, suggesting they go downstairs for pints because what else were they going to do and -

It was Liam. Niall's eyes widened as he came face to face with the object of his affection and continuous thoughts when he opened the door.

“Hi,” he choked out, because Liam was the last person he'd been expecting to see. It was almost as if all of his thoughts were coming to life. He briefly wondered if some combination of his brainpower and the rain had willed Liam into existence.

“Hi,” Liam responded, fiddling with his fingers. “I, uh... can I come in?”

Niall nodded his head and moved aside so Liam could enter the room. He then quickly closed the door behind him, because they were supposed to be limiting their interactions with the other teams, after all.

So much for that, with Liam standing in the middle of his room.

“I didn't sleep well last night,” Liam admitted, looking down a the shorter boy.

Niall only nodded in response, averting his eyes from Liam's. He could relate to that, boy could he relate to that. He'd tossed and turned the entire night over what to do.

“Look, I'm sorry,” Niall started before he realized he still didn't know how to finish. He wanted Liam... he wanted to play in the tournament... he couldn't have both and he wasn't used to feeling so conflicted and unfulfilled. All his life he'd been taught and had proven that hard work would get him whatever he wanted.

This was the first time that what he wanted was so completely unattainable.

“I know,” Liam replied with a sigh, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I shouldn't be here.”

“No,” Niall shook his head, because that wasn't what he meant. But really, Liam shouldn't have been there because it was breaking the exact rule they were struggling with. “Well... yeah, but no and,” he groaned, placing his hands on his head and gripping his hair. “I don't know.”

“Did you get in a lot of trouble?” Liam asked quietly. 

“No. My coach just reminded all of us and then took me aside after. It wasn't a big deal. He's cool.” Niall shrugged his shoulders and looked at Liam, wanting to play it off as though it didn't matter and wasn't plaguing both of them.

“I didn't even hear my coach,” Liam laughed a little bit. “Was completely zoning out during his post training rant.”

Niall giggled, because in all the years he'd idolized Liam as a player for Chelsea, he'd never thought that he'd be anything less than professional. 

“I just wish things were different,” Liam continued, bringing Niall's face back to the uncharacteristic slight frown he'd been wearing the whole day. “I really do.”

“Me too,” Niall said.

Liam moved in to hug Niall, and Niall accepted, wrapping his arms around the older boy and rubbing his back slightly. They felt so good together, and it drove him mad they he had to meet his idol and have a connection like this in the one place where they really couldn't. 

“Maybe after the tournament,” Liam muttered, still holding onto Niall, “If you're ever in London...”

Liam didn't get a chance to finish his thought, because Niall was craning his neck upwards and kissing him slowly. He kissed him twice on the lips and once on the cheek before pulling away and looking at him sadly.

“Yeah, I don't ever...”

Liam leaned down and kissed Niall again. He wasn't intending to start anything – in fact it was really meant to end everything. But they kept kissing and hugging and Niall was stroking his back with his strong hands.

“We're not supposed to be doing this,” Liam said slowly when he pulled away from Niall. He placed his forehead against his and looked at him. 

“I know,” Niall replied. “But it's raining and... what else are we going to do?” He grinned slightly, and Liam was helpless against Niall's bright smile.

They fell into Niall's bed, pushing the pile of yesterday's clothes off of it. Before long today's clothes joined them on the floor against a soundtrack of panting and muttered curse words from the Irish boy.

Niall's sweaty chest rose and fell as he laid on his back, trying to regain his breath. Liam draped himself overtop of him and sighed.

“They don't have to know about us,” he said quietly, glancing up at Niall hopefully.

Niall smiled, feeling better than he had all day. “They would just be jealous anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters are getting a bit shorter now, so Fever Pitch will update on Mondays and Thursdays going forward :) Thanks for reading! x


	7. Chapter 7

Simon blew the whistle, and it was music to Liam's ears.

That day's training camp was much brighter. It seemed all the clouds had rained to their last drop, judging from the clear blue sky above. 

“Absolutely brilliant!” he shouted at the boys. “Payne, where was that yesterday?”

Liam shrugged. He chalked it up to being in a much better mood on account of getting things sorted out with Niall. 

Sorted out by potentially getting them in a much bigger mess down the line, but sorted out for the moment nonetheless.

“A good night's sleep did you well, I reckon,” Louis laughed, slapping Liam on the back as he ran by.

Yes, Liam supposed that was also a part of it. But he liked the other reason far better.

Simon blew the whistle again and the entire team lined up for yet another drill. Liam focused intently on the ball in front of him, kicking it with force and twisting his ankle just the right way as all of his training remained at the front of his mind. 

The ball hit the far left corner of the net hard, as was his signature move in league play. Liam grinned to himself as he pictured how proud Niall likely would have been had he seen that. He probably would have been leaning back in his chair, laughing and clapping with glee. 

“Nice one, Stella,” Louis said, glancing over at Liam when his ball missed the gal entirely.

“What?”

“You know,” he laughed. “You got your groove back.”

Liam couldn't help but laugh at Louis's ridiculous joke. “Thanks, mate.”

A few more drills and their training camp was over for the day. They walked off the pitch as usual – ready to relinquish it to Ireland for their training.

Liam felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach as they got ready to leave – worried that he might have to see Niall. He wasn't sure how he would be able to walk past the Irish boy without grinning like a fool.

His fear was unfounded, because he and the team walked off the pitch without Ireland in sight. He felt relieved, but a little saddened. Through his worries, he'd sort of been looking forward to seeing Niall in full kit. Especially considering he was usually wearing tanktops and snapbacks.

As usual, their team showered and met back in their hotel to have a team meeting before being dismissed for the rest of the day. Unlike the day before, however, Liam actually listened to everything Simon had to say to them.

“Nice work today, boys,” he said with his arms crossed over his tight white t-shirt. There had been many times Liam had wondered if the English coach just purchased a pack of 7 of the same shirt every week, as they always looked brand new.

“We've got a long month ahead of us and only one training camp left before opening ceremonies on Thursday. After that it's two days of rest before our first game against Greece on Saturday.”

Liam tapped his foot a little. Only one training camp left and talk of the opening ceremonies and their first actual game was beginning to make the tournament feel even more real, and less like a detriment to his current relationship.

“You have all this information on your itineraries already, but I'll just reiterate it. On Thursday we'll attend the ceremonies, of course. On Friday afternoon we'll fly out to Belo Horizonte, and we'll have a chance to do a little bit of practice. Saturday will be the game, and we'll be back here until next match on the 19th.”

The entire team nodded, and there were some slight mumblings from some of the others.

“Boys, we've given it our all so far, and I think if we push harder, we can take it home. It's a lot of pressure, but we're a nation that performs well under pressure.”

Liam was sure he heard Louis scoff a little at that. As a national team, they were certainly _not_.

But of course Simon was paid to say things like that.

“I think if we really set our minds to it, we can bring the cup home for the first time since 1966.”

Some cheers from the team and a few high-fives. Liam kept his eyes fixed on Simon though as he waited for his coach to continue.

“Let's focus on making tomorrow's training camp a day of pushing ourselves and testing our limits. We'll focus on teamwork and work through some of the formations we're going to use during the game. We've got this, guys. Remember, this is just the beginning.”

The entire team cheered and nodded at one another. Liam just smiled, hugging Louis quickly before looking back at Simon. He had to hand it to his coach. He talked a good talk.

***

“It's our last training camp tomorrow,” Liam said, tracing the pattern of the quilt on Niall's hotel bed.

“Yeah,” Niall nodded, stuffing another piece of pizza in his mouth. The two had opted to order in to his room in the interest of keeping their relationship quiet. Neither of them believed that this was actually going to affect their performance, but it was probably best to not piss their coaches off right before the moment they'd been working towards for the past four years.

“Nervous?” Liam asked.

Niall locked his eyes with his and swallowed. “Like you wouldn't believe,” he admitted. Ever since he'd been told he was going to be playing for the national team, he'd been looking forward to this moment. But to have the opening of the tournament just days away made it all the more real. A reality that wasn't just excitement, because landing in Brazil was one thing, but actually being faced with having his entire nation depending on him and his team to win it?

Well, that was another thing altogether.

It was rare that Niall felt insecure. He knew he was good at football, he wouldn't have gotten so far into his career were he not. But there was so much pressure riding on this tournament that he'd never really felt until now. This slight bit of worry was more than he usually had, and he didn't really know how to deal with it.

He was actually thankful that Liam was sitting on his bed across from him. He supposed that he would have had Sean to talk to, but that was different. Being with Liam was easier, and he was quickly discovering that one of the benefits of being in a close physical relationship was that he felt more emotionally attached as well.

Liam's soft brown eyes were such a comfort to him, that Niall was convinced Walshy really didn't know what he was talking about when he'd told him to limit his interactions with the other teams. It wasn't like he was just going to up and throw a game so England could win. Not in the least.

“You're going to be fine,” Liam said, placing his hand on Niall's thigh.

“Thanks,” Niall replied with a grin. “Are you?”

“Am I nervous?” Liam asked, pondering that for a moment. He supposed he was, yeah. He played in Euro, but that wasn't quite the same scale as this. Though, the fear of the unknown that Niall was probably experiencing wasn't really there for him. He knew what to expect out of this. “Yeah, I suppose a little.”

“What's it like to go home?” Niall asked suddenly, feeling his heart pound as he imagined losing a match and getting knocked out of the tournament. “I mean... when the tournament's still going on...”

“You mean after we got knocked out of Euro?”

Niall nodded, because he hadn't really wanted to say it.

Liam shrugged. “You know, it's not a big deal really. As long as you play your best, it's going to be fine. And you know how it is, people always speculate and think they know better. But they're not the one actually out there on the pitch, so they don't know what they're talking about.”

Niall laughed. He didn't really pay attention to what people said about him anyway, so he really wasn't sure why he was worrying about it now.

His phone rang with a text alert, pulling Niall's attention away from the pizza and of course, from the boy who was sprawled across his bed.

“Sorry,” Niall said as he glanced down at his phone to see who could possibly be trying to contact him.

_**Ali McGinley:** my plane lands in brazil tomorrow night!!_

Niall sighed. He didn't know why Ali had decided she was going to make her way down to Brazil with his family to see him play. Of course, he was flattered, but deep down he knew that the gesture wasn't entirely rooted in friendship.

“What's wrong?” Liam asked, noticing the troubled look on Niall's face. 

“Nothin',” Niall replied, because he was sure it wasn't a big deal. He just hoped Ali didn't think he'd be able to spend all of his free time with her. He also didn't know how he was going to see Liam with the added struggle of having to entertain her and keeping him a secret. “My friend just texted me, she's coming to Brazil tomorrow with my family.”

“Oh, that's nice of her,” Liam responded, not really know what to say to that. He also felt slightly jealous, even though he didn't know why. Of course Niall would have friends – in fact, he was sure Niall was the type of person to have loads of friends. So surely some of them would be close enough to follow him down to Brazil.

“Yeah,” Niall shrugged. “We've known each other a long time, we're pretty close, I guess. She just... gets a little weird sometimes,” Niall said, giving Liam a look and hoping he would understand.

“Oh,” Liam nodded knowingly. “She's one of those.”

“Yeah,” Niall said with a bit of a laugh. “I took her to her graduation dance and ever since then she's had this idea that we're more than friends.”

“Does she know you're gay?”

“Oh yeah,” Niall laughed. “She knew even back then. She's one of the first people I told, but...” Niall shrugged, because he didn't usually talk about such things. “Maybe since we were a bit young, she thinks that whatever she and I have is above that. It'll probably be fine though. Do you have family coming in for the tournament?” he quickly changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on any problems he might've had in the past with Ali.

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “It's really nice. My mum is coming for opening ceremonies and the first match, I think. A friend of ours from Chelsea, you know Malik?”

Niall nodded eagerly. Of course he knew Malik! Well, he knew of Malik. He quickly contained his excitement, however, not wanting Liam to think he was a total fanboy.

“Yeah,” Liam laughed a bit. “He's coming down too, flying in with Tommo's ex-roomate, actually.”

“Ah yeah,” Niall grinned. “That's cool. I love that about this game,” he sighed. “Brings people together.”

Liam nodded. He could definitely agree with that.

Niall's phone lit up with another text, reminding him that he still had yet to respond to the first one.

_**Ali McGinley:** hellloooo you busy chasin the fit footie players? Lol x_

_**Niall Horan:** haha nothin like that! See ya tomorrow... probably wont get t see ya during ceremonies tho, be sittin with the lads!_

Niall looked up from his phone and smiled at Liam. No, there was definitely no chasing going on here. He wasn't about to tell Ali that, though. His best friend ever since they were small, sure. But he was content with keeping Liam his little secret for now.


	8. Chapter 8

Niall checked his phone for the the thousandth time that evening. With their last training camp complete, there was nothing for him to do but sit around his hotel room and wait for the inevitable text message from Ali letting him know that she was there and couldn't wait to see him.

He couldn't deny that he was excited to see his mum, dad and brother. And he supposed he was excited to see her too, it's just that things were so awkward between the two of them. He never let it show, of course, and he was probably getting apprehensive for nothing. 

It was just that he'd never really been in a relationship before. This whole mess where Ali tried to act like this girlfriend usually really only affected him. He could just ignore it, and tell her to cool it when it got to be too much. Now, he had Liam to worry about as well.

There was an excited knock at his door and Niall frowned. He'd thought that he and Liam had agreed not to see each other that night, given that both their families were coming in and they wanted to spend some time with them.

But it wasn't Liam. Upon opening the door, Niall was met with a short brown hair girl wrapping her small arms around him.

Ali.

“Hey,” he said with a grin, looking at his mum. “You're early!”

“Yes,” Maura said, looking at her son and fluffing his bleached blonde hair like she always did when she hadn't seen him in a while. “Our plane got in early and we wanted to surprise you. Hope that's alright.”

“Of course it is,” Niall grinned, pulling away from Ali and moving in to hug his mum. “It's so good to see you.”

“Our flight was so long,” Ali sighed, looking at Niall and playing with her hair a little bit. “I managed to sleep a little bit, but there were parts of it that were so bumpy.”

“Oh yeah,” Niall laughed, looking up at his brother who generally hated flying. “I'm sure you loved that.”

Greg shrugged. “I've been on better flights.”

“I suppose you're hungry then,” Niall said, looking at the lot of them. “There's a really good restaurant downstairs, if you'd like.”

They glanced at each other and nodded. “We're just going to head up to our rooms and drop off our things,” his mum said. “Maybe you could get us a table and we'll meet you down there?”

Niall nodded, ushering them out of his room. 

He headed down to the hotel restaurant. It wasn't that busy, given the time of night. Most other players had gotten sick of it by then, he figured, and had gone on to other places. It was easy for him to pick out a table that was going to be big enough to seat his group of five.

Ali was the first to arrive, of course. She very nearly skipped into the restaurant, plunking herself down in the seat beside Niall.

“What's good here, then?” she asked, flipping through the menu in front of her.

Niall shrugged. All of it was good, really. He'd never been picky when it came to food. 

Obviously Ali knew that, because at Niall's silence she just laughed. “Let me guess – you can't choose because you love it all?”

He grinned. There was a reason she was his best friend – awkward one-sided feelings or not. “You know me too well. But the spicy chicken has been my favourite.”

“Right,” Ali grinned, winking at him. “Not as good as the Peri Peri sauce, I'm sure... Niall?”

Niall wasn't paying attention to Ali's talk of Nando's. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the fact that Liam was walking into the restaurant with Malik, Tommo and another boy who he didn't recognize. Likely Tommo's friend who Liam had mentioned the day before.

Niall quickly took a sip of his water and tried to pay attention to Ali – because it wasn't like he could go over and talk to Liam anyway, and he really didn't want her to pick up on – 

“Are you checking out those Chelsea lads?” she asked him, leaning into the table a bit.

“No.” Even though he supposed he totally was. Well, that one particular Chelsea lad. But Ali didn't need to be made aware of that.

“I don't blame you,” she grinned. “They're fit. Really fit.”

Niall blushed a bit, and he was thankful it was dark in the restaurant. As close as he and Ali were, they never much talked about boys. In fact, this was the first time she'd really brought it up. Perhaps she'd finally gotten over her little crush on him. The stress of the last week with the tournament and Liam had just done a number on his brain, that was all, and he'd over-analyzed the situation.

Shortly after he and Ali had decided on what they were going to order, Niall's mum, dad and brother joined them at the table.

Niall glanced backwards and noticed that Liam was sitting just out of sight from him. This was probably a good thing, and no accident on Liam's part. Niall sighed, glad that he was able to sidestep what could have been a potentially disastrous situation. Instead, he focused his attention on his family.

Besides, he was going to be able to see Liam later.

***

“Family Guy in Portugese isn't really the same,” Ali mused as she sat on Niall's hotel bed, flipping through channels on the TV.

Niall laughed, because no, it really wasn't. Still, Ali placed the remote down and continued to watch the episode. Niall supposed it didn't really matter – they'd both seen it enough times to know all of the jokes without understanding it on that particular rewatch.

He stretched his legs out and fiddled with his phone. Then he glanced at the bedside clock. He really hoped that Liam would have the good sense to text him instead of just showing up at his door. He hadn't cleared that with him first, but that was because he hadn't anticipated Ali inviting herself up to his room when dinner was over.

Not that Niall minded much. He just didn't want to risk having to explain everything to her. He didn't even know how he would – serious conversation wasn't exactly his forte.

Ali burst out laughing as something happened onscreen where she clearly got the joke but Niall didn't. Probably because he hadn't seen the episode quite as many times as she had.

“Oh my goodness,” she giggled, composing herself and sighing before leaning her head on Niall's shoulder.

Niall turned his head to look down at her. This didn't mean anything – she was just doing it because they were such close friends. Niall was sure of it.

Except that he obviously looked down at her a little too long, because the next thing he knew she was closing her eyes and leaning upward, very nearly kissing him.

“Whoa, Ali,” Niall said with a slight laugh, pushing her away gently.

She sighed. “Sorry.”

He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to sort out his thoughts. He didn't really know what to say to her. He'd made it loud and clear that he wasn't interested. He didn't know what else to do.

There was a knock at his door and Niall nearly jumped off the bed. His heart pounded in his chest – because of course Liam would show up now. He really did have impeccable timing, Niall thought sarcastically.

Or maybe he actually did. Niall's heart raced as he got off the bed and went to answer the door. Ali seemed to think there was something romantic between the two of them, but maybe if she saw that he was with someone else, she'd back off and they could go back to being best friends without the awkward sexual tension.

“Hey,” Niall said as he opened the door. Sure enough, it was Liam on the other side. “Um...” he said, glancing back at Ali. 

Liam leaned into the room and he and Ali shared a quick glance at each other. “Uh, is this a bad time?”

“No, no,” Niall said. In fact, it was the best time possible. Liam's arrival had ended any sort of bad time that was about to occur. He took Liam's hand, pulling him into the room and shutting the door behind him. “Liam, this is Ali. She's my best friend from back home in Mullingar.”

Liam smiled. “Nice to meet you, Niall's told me about you.”

Ali gave him a half-smile, casually looking down at Niall and Liam's laced fingers.

“Ali,” Niall said, looking at her cautiously. “This is Liam, my boyfriend.” He gulped a bit, not only because he was slightly worried about her reaction, but because he'd never actually called Liam that before. They hadn't even really had a chance to discuss it – what with the drama concerning the two of them even being able to talk to each other, let alone date.

But Ali just grinned. “Wow! You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend. And such a fit one at that,” she said, nodding at Liam. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Niall said sheepishly. “It's sort of a secret for now, no one knows.”

“Well,” Ali said, the grin still plastered on her face. “Your secret's safe with me – you two are so adorable together!”

Niall shrugged and looked down at the ground, feeling his face get hot. He hadn't a clue how he was supposed to react to that. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“I suppose you two want some alone time, then,” she said, gathering her purse and slipping her shoes on. “I'll be off, see you tomorrow, Niall. Nice to meet you, Liam.”

Liam nodded at her and she left the room in a haste.

The two boys glanced at each other for a moment.

“Sorry,” Liam said, breaking the silence. “I didn't know she was going to be here.”

“Neither did I,” Niall admitted. “She sort of invited herself up here after dinner with my family. I hope you don't mind that I told her about us,” he said, biting his lip a bit. “She just needs to get it through her head that she and I aren't going to be together. But don't worry, she's cool. It'll be fine.”

Liam nodded. He wasn't sure how much he believed that, given that Ali's presence and overly fake smile had left him feeling somewhat uneasy. But he supposed Niall obviously knew her better than he did, and he had no reason not to trust him.

“So,” Liam said, changing the subject. “Boyfriend? I like the sound of that.” He wrapped his arms around Niall's waist and kissed the nape of his neck.

“I thought you might,” Niall grinned as Liam continued planting little kisses on his skin. 

“I don't know if you know what boyfriends do,” Liam said, nudging Niall towards the bed and gently pushing him down on it before crawling on top of him.

“Hmmm...” Niall sighed as he arched his back underneath Liam's weight. “I have an idea...”

And just like that, any concern that either of them might've had about Ali was forgotten about.


	9. Chapter 9

Liam woke up the next morning tangled in a mess of sheets and Irish limbs.

He sighed to himself, closing his eyes and enjoying the last few moments of relaxation before he had to get up and face the day. 

He and Niall wouldn't have long to lounge about. They both had to be ready and in full kit for the opening ceremonies early that afternoon, going well into the evening. 

That was something Liam was actually looking forward to. There was going to be a big concert with a lot of huge names as well as fireworks and a few other events he wasn't quite sure about. It was setup to be about as big as the Olympics that had taken place in London a few years prior. He'd attended the closing ceremonies, but for this event to be attached to a sporting event he was actually taking place in was all the more cool.

That, and he recalled being a little bitter at the Olympics over his lack of a running career, so it was nice to be on the other side of that this time.

Niall stirred a bit and opened one of his eyes. “Morning,” he said, sleep still croaking through his voice.

“Morning,” Liam replied, kissing the top of Niall's forehead. He could certainly get used to this – waking up to Niall's messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Except that he wouldn't be able to for quite some time. Liam wasn't sure he'd actually get the chance to see Niall after the ceremonies – and the next day they'd be off to their respective first games. 

If that thought didn't bother him enough, once the tournament was over (however long that was for either of them was yet to be determined) he'd be back in London and Niall would be back in Dublin.

So Liam hugged Niall a little tighter, trying to be as close to him as possible before they had to split.

Niall closed his eyes, oblivious to the fact that they really did have to get up and start getting ready for the day. He nearly fell asleep again before Liam sitting up jostled him awake.

“What're you doing?”

“I've gotta go,” Liam said with a slight pout on his face. He really, really didn't want to leave. “You know, before anyone sees me leave your room.”

Niall nodded. He stretched out a little bit to try and wake up and sat up behind Liam. He wrapped his arms around Liam's waist and rested his head against Liam's shoulder. “I had fun last night.”

“I know you did,” Liam said with a grin. “Twice.”

Niall blushed and nuzzled his face into Liam's skin. 

Even though he really didn't want to, Liam knew he probably should get going. He turned around to face Niall. “I've really gotta go,” he said, leaning in and kissing him on the lips. “I'll text you later, yeah?”

Niall nodded, watching as Liam gathered his clothes and got dressed. “Yeah, alright.”

Within minutes of Liam carefully leaving the room (not before checking to make sure the hallway was clear), there was another knock at Niall's door.

Niall groaned, not really wanting to get up but knowing he had to. It was either Sean, coming to see what he was up to and if he wanted to get a bite before they had to start getting ready or Ali, wanting much of the same with the added bonus of all the details about Liam.

Niall mulled it over in his head as he pulled his boxers on. When he opened the door, he couldn't say he was overly shocked.

There was Ali, standing there in tight jean shorts and a tank-top, her long brown hair flowing freely over her shoulders.

“Hey,” he said, rubbing his eyes in a faint attempt to wake himself up.

“Hey,” Ali replied, looking at him with a grin. It was clear that she was checking him out, her eyes drifting from his toned stomach down to the white boxer shorts he was wearing. But Niall was completely oblivious, not paying attention to or even noticing such a thing.

His mind was still on Liam, and slowly moving towards the busy day he had ahead.

“Got some time to go for breakfast?” she asked, snapping him out of this thoughts. If there was one thing he had time for it was always, always food.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, ushering her inside his room while he continued to get dressed. He lazily pulled on a pair of jeans and a muscle shirt. Placing an old snapback on top of his tousled blonde hair, he turned to Ali. “Let's go.”

She only nodded, following him out of the room.

The two of them opted to go to a small deli not far from the hotel. It was far enough away that there were less people in it, though it was still quite busy. Ali had to save a small table for the two of them while Niall ordered a couple of bagels and fruit for the two of them to eat.

“Thanks,” she said as Niall took his seat across from her.

Niall smiled, taking a large bite of his bagel and chewing without thinking about anything in particular. He focused his eyes on the spinning ceiling fan while enjoying the taste of the cream cheese on his tongue.

“So, how'd that happen anyway?” Ali asked, tearing a piece off the top of her bagel and popping it into her mouth.

“What?”

“You know,” she grinned, a mischievous glint in her eye. It was one Niall knew all too well. He distinctly remembered her wearing the same look when they were seven years old. Right before she'd told him to knock down a wasp's nest out of a tree. “You and Payne.”

“Oh,” Niall said. He supposed he'd have to tell her the whole thing now. He wasn't really sure he wanted to, but keeping Liam as his own personal secret had obviously gone out the window already. “It just... happened,” he said lamely, because there really wasn't a better way to describe it than that.

Ali raised her eyebrow, clearly not enthused by his response. “That's it? How does that just happen? How does Liam Panye just show up at your hotel room-”

“Ali!” Niall hissed, giving her a look that shut her up immediately. Likely because she wasn't used to seeing him get so serious over something that wasn't taking place on the football pitch. “Keep it down, would you? I don't need the whole world to find out.”

Ali rolled her eyes slightly, smirking at Niall. “Right, because so many people in here are paying attention to us. No one can even hear us, it's so loud. What's the big deal anyway? It's not like you're in the closet.”

No, Niall definitely wasn't in the closet. That didn't even have anything to do with this. He sighed. “Sorry, we're just not supposed to be mingling with the other teams, alright? If anyone finds out... they can't find out. Not now.”

Ali nodded, still picking at her bagel. “Right... okay. Sorry.”

Niall shrugged, reaching for a piece of mango off the fruit plate. “Don't worry about it.”

“So no one knows?” she asked, lowering her voice considerably and leaning into the table. “Not even Sean?”

Niall shook his head. Keeping Liam his little secret had been kind of nice, but he did sort of feel bad for keeping such a big part of his life from his best friend. “Not even Sean.”

Ali was silent for a couple of moments as she finished her bagel and crumpled up the wrapper. “Do you really like him, then?”

Niall was unable to stop a grin from spreading wide across his face. Did he really like Liam? That was the understatement of the century. “I really, really do.”

Ali just nodded, looking away from him and peering out the window of the deli. “I'm happy for you, Nialler,” she said after a couple of moments, looking back at him with a smile across her face.

Niall continued grinning at the use of his childhood nickname. “Thanks, Alisaurus.”

***

A blast of colour exploded in the sky as the fireworks went off. The crowd at Maracana Stadium erupted with cheers. Niall grinned, looking upwards as his face lit up.

With the opening ceremonies underway, the Fifa World Cup 2014 was officially a go, and he couldn't be more thrilled.

He looked around. He was standing with his teammates and Walshy, of course. Everyone's friends and family who had come down to Brazil for the occasion were also close by, including Ali, his mum, dad and brother. He looked back at them, and they smiled. 

He felt a warmth in his chest as the announcer said the names of all the teams and made a speech about sportsmanship and the coming together of all the nations in peace in the name of football.

“Fucking amazing, isn't it?” Sean whispered, leaning over to Niall's ear. “We're a part of this.”

Niall could only nod as he surveyed the massive stadium. He'd obviously played his share of footie – he had to have, to get to this point. They'd been training in the stadium all week, but to see it filled with people made him feel quite humbled and honoured.

“I can't believe it,” he choked out nearly inaudibly. He was sure Sean didn't even hear him, as his friend was already standing up straight again, listening intently to the speech.

Niall glanced over to where the English team was. He didn't move his head at all, just darted his eyes downwards to where they were standing. They weren't close by, so it was hard for him to pick out Liam, but when he thought he did, hi heart swelled. He wondered if Liam was feeling much the same way he was. He could tell that Liam was less enthused about the whole affair – probably due to the fact that this was his second international tournament, Niall thought. But still, he hoped that such an amazing fireworks display, coupled with the encouraging words of Fifa's president would at least make him feel more excited about the month to come.

Niall wasn't entirely wrong. Liam was listening intently to the speech, smiling to himself. Though he'd been feeling less than excited in the past week, he was definitely feeling better now. A sense of camaraderie and uplifting words will do that to a person.

He smiled as he looked over at Louis, who just raised his eyebrows with a grin when he caught Liam looking at him. 

Liam wished he could look back and try to find Niall, but of course he had to keep his eyes firmly placed on the stage in the middle of the pitch. Still, he knew that the Irish boy was probably grinning ear-to-ear, bursting with pride for his sport and his country. If there was one thing that Liam felt off about, it was that he couldn't be standing next to Niall, holding his hand tightly, and wishing him good luck.

And for as excited as Liam was beginning to feel about the sport, a sense of dread loomed over him. Starting with that very moment, the whole world was going to be watching the tournament unfold. Now, more than ever before, he and Niall were going to have to be careful to keep their relationship just between the two of them.

And that wouldn't have been a problem, Liam thought. It wouldn't be a problem at all – aside from the small matter of the jealousy he hadn't missed in Ali's eyes when she'd walked out of Niall's hotel room the night before.

Another firework went off and Liam sighed to himself. He forced a smile on his face as he often did when he was trying not to worry about something that was nagging him. All he had to focus on for the next few days were doing his very best at the sport that he was trying to love.

If nothing else, he would do it so that the boy he was falling in love with would be proud of him.

***

“You look so fucking hot in full kit,” Liam said in a low voice as he nipped at Niall's neck. He'd just barely gotten into Niall's hotel room before he was all over him, and Niall wasn't wasting any time either. Both of them were well aware that this was going to be their last night together for a few days.

Endorphins pumped through Niall's body as he let Liam kiss his pale skin. It was difficult for him to feel sad over the time they would have to spend apart when Liam's breath was turning him on so much.

He squeezed his eyes shut and enjoyed the feeling of Liam's hands roaming over him.

That is, until there was a soft knock at the door.

Niall opened his eyes slowly, not wanting the moment to end. He gave Liam a regretful look as he nodded towards the door. The knocking didn’t persist, but he knew it was probably Ali and rightfully so. She’d warned him she was probably going to come see him after the opening ceremonies, he’d just banked on the fact that she’d be too tired.

In retrospect, he didn’t know why he’d thought such a thing. He’d never known Ali to be too tired for anything. Like himself, she was always a ball of energy.

He glanced through the glass peephole before opening the door and his suspicions were confirmed. Ali was indeed standing out in the hallway. He glanced back at Liam and nodded slightly before pulling on the chain and opening the door.

“Hey!” Ali said brightly, and Niall smiled. He tried not to show any disappointment, because really he did want to see her, and spending the night with Liam had just been a shot in the dark anyway.

“Hey,” Niall replied as she walked past him. “Sorry, I knew you were coming, I just...” he scratched the back of his neck and nodded towards Liam.

Ali just laughed a little bit as Liam held up his hand to wave at her. “You wanted to get some time in before you had to separate for a few days?”

“Yeah,” Niall nodded. Ali had always been able to read him really well. 

Ali just giggled a bit, and Liam raised his eyebrow. Niall noticed him trying to catch his eye and he just half smiled. It was clear to him that Ali’s presence made Liam uncomfortable. Niall felt sort of guilty, knowing that she was going to show up but still allowing Liam to come to his room. But logic hadn’t been a factor in his relationship with Liam up to that point anyway.

“Right,” Ali nodded. “I just wanted to come over and say how proud I am of you and how exciting this all is,” she gushed, leaning against the desk and grinning. “I mean, I’ve seen you play before but seeing you in our national team’s colours and representing our country is so fucking cool.”

Niall felt his cheeks turn even more red than they’d already been on account of his antics with Liam right before Ali had walked in. His heart swelled with pride because amidst the slightly awkward moment with the three of them, he’d almost forgotten the entire reason he was there. Then he felt all giddy once again.

He grinned as glanced back at Liam, who returned his smile. 

“Thanks, Ali,” Niall said walking over to her and enveloping her in a hug. He couldn’t have felt any closer to his best friend at that moment, and it was a little overwhelming for him to have his two favourite people in his hotel room during the World Cup of all things.

No matter how many times he thought about it, it still seemed completely surreal and now more than ever he felt the need to pinch himself to ensure it wasn’t some crazy dream.

Ali hugged him tightly for a few moments before pulling away. “Hey,” she said, glancing over at Niall’s shoulder to Liam.

Liam raised his eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he just watched his boyfriend embrace this other girl, unable to stop himself from feeling a tinge of jealousy. Not because he thought that Niall would rather be with her - he knew that wasn’t the case. Simply for the closeness that the two of them so clearly shared and the history that they had.

Ali reached into the purse that was slung over her shoulders and pulled out her iPhone. She handed it to Liam with her other arm still link around Niall’s waist. “Do you mind taking a picture of the two of us?”

Liam nodded, pushing whatever slight jealous feelings he had aside. She was Niall’s friend, and he was going to have to respect that despite the uneasiness he felt around her. “Sure,” he said, holding the device in front of his face.

Ali leaned in closer to Niall and grinned. Niall draped his arm over her shoulders and smiled. He glanced down at Ali, who was smiling with the same girlish grin she always had, and couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Ali darted her eyes up at him. Hearing his signature laugh made it difficult for her to contain her own. She giggled at first but was unable to stop herself from full blown laughing.

Liam continued to snap a few more pictures of Niall and Ali will full, natural smiles before bringing the phone down.

“Thanks!” Ali said, still grinning from laughter as Liam handed her phone back to her. “Now you guys,” she said, motioning for Liam to stand beside Niall.

“What?” Liam asked, giving her a look.

“Go on, stand beside him. It’s a big day for you too, more than me. So get on beside him so I can take a picture.”

Niall and Liam blushed a little, but shrugged and stood beside each other. It was a little awkward, neither one of them really knew what to do. 

Ali stood in front of them with one hand on her hips and the other holding out her phone. “Oh come on,” she said, rolling her eyes. “At least look like you enjoy each other’s company.”

Liam shrugged, slinging his arm over Niall’s shoulders and looking down at him. Niall’s scent alone and the sight of him in his green Ireland football shirt was enough to make him feel giddy, so it was easy for him to smile.

Niall leaned in closer to Liam and wrapped his arm around the taller boy’s waist, grinning easily as his heart started to beat quicker.

“You boys are too cute,” Ali gushed as she snapped a picture.

Niall and Liam continued to hold each other, relaxing a little more in each other's arms as Ali took a couple more pictures. 

“Well,” she said as she put her phone back into her purse, “I suppose I'll be off, then.”

“No, Ali, you don't have to...” Niall started, even though he really didn't want her to stay because he wanted to spend some time with Liam while he could. Besides, he'd see her tomorrow. And he wouldn't have to be secretive about that, either. 

She gave Niall a look. “No, I do,” she laughed, wiggling her eyebrows a little. “Have fun you guys,” she winked before quickly leaving the room.

Niall just shook his head as he turned back to Liam. “Sorry about that,” he said with a slight laugh. “I forgot that she was going to come by.”

Liam shrugged a little.

“What?” Niall pressed, noticing the blank look on Liam's face. It was certainly different than the expression he'd held about ten minutes ago.

Liam sighed. “It's just... you're awfully close.”

Niall raised his eyebrow. “Of course. She's my best friend.”

Liam nodded. “Right, I know, she's just around an awful lot. And you said before that she had feelings for you.”

Realization hit Niall as Liam trailed off and broke eye contact. Was it possible that Liam was actually slightly jealous of his relationship with Ali? Further to that, was it possible that he was actually worried that something was going to happen with her?

Niall tried not to feel giddy about that, but it was difficult when it was _Liam Payne_ standing in his hotel room worrying about his closeness with another person. A girl, no less!

“Hey,” Niall grinned, wrapping his arms around Liam. “Ali's cool, she's really cool and she's been my best friend ever since we were small. But I had a talk with her this morning, and she understands that there's nothing between me and her.”

Liam smiled a little. He knew he was being slightly ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. When it came to Niall, his emotions were all over the place.

Niall kissed Liam on the cheek and then softly on the lips. He looked upwards, straight into Liam's eyes. “There's nothing between me and her,” he repeated.

Liam kissed Niall back easily, feeling much more at ease. Though he felt better now that Ali was gone and Niall had assured him things between the two of them were platonic, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him to be weary of her.


	10. Chapter 10

_“Payne accepts the pass, and right away the ball is off his foot again. Greece tries to intercept, but it's too late. Crouch takes control off the ball and he takes a shot on... GOAL! England have done it with seconds to spare in extra time. Their first match in the 2014 FIFA World Cup is a win!”_

Liam took a deep breath as Louis nearly jumped on his shoulders at the end of the game. “Brilliant game lads, just brilliant!” he exclaimed, patting Liam on the back and grinning around at the rest of the team.

Liam couldn't help but grin either. After all, they'd just won their first match in the tournament, and that was definitely something to buzz about.

Celebrations couldn't happen just yet, of course. They still had two other matches to play – one of which was against Italy, who had knocked them out of the Euro tournament just two years prior.

Liam didn't have time to sweat about that match – he knew the lecture would come from Simon before they played it. Instead it was time to focus on resting up for the night so they could fly back to their home base in Rio de Janeiro for a few days before travelling to play another match.

Upon returning to his hotel room, he slipped out of his match gear and checked his cell phone.

Amongst a dozen or so messages from friends and family back home, congratulating him on his team's win that afternoon was a single message from Niall.

_Yeah buddie, congrats on ur win today!! we drew against portugal... cant win em all, but we didnt lose so out celeratin wit the lads tnite! See u tmrw! :) :)_

Liam fell asleep with a smile on his face, because he was quite sure he couldn't be any more smitten with that boy if he tried.

***

Travel days were long. Even when they weren't long, they felt long. Even though he was usually a ball of energy, by the time they arrived back at the hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Niall was aching to be in his bed.

Actually, he was aching to be in Liam's bed, but that would have to wait until he took a nap for a couple of hours.

Just as he had curled himself up under the covers, there was a soft knock at his hotel room door.

Niall grumbled to himself – he didn't fancy himself as an overly grumpy person, usually. In fact, that side of him only came out when he was sufficiently exhausted. And even now when he felt like a total zombie, he forced himself out of bed and a smile on his face as he opened the door to Walshy of all people.

“I didn't sleep through a match, did I?” Niall asked, scratching the back of his head. His blonde hair was already sticking out in every direction imaginable and he'd only been in bed for less than five minutes.

Walshy didn't laugh at Niall's joke like he normally would have. He kept his mouth pressed together and looked at him. 

Niall felt his stomach drop – that was the first indication that something was wrong. Not that he had the faintest idea what that could possibly be. He thought he'd done rather well out on the pitch the day before – they hadn't won the match, but to simply draw against Portugal was a victory in itself. Their odds of winning the entire tournament were far greater than Ireland's as it was... 

“Sit down, Niall,” Walshy said, narrowing his eyes at him.

Niall gulped, because it was rare that his coach would ever call him by his first name. What in god's name had he done now?

Niall did as he was told, sitting down on one of the plush chairs beside the window of his room. Walshy sat down beside him in the other one.

“I thought we talked about this before,” Walshy said slowly, but his voice was without the gentle undertone it usually had.

Niall stayed silent, but he began to realise what this might really be about.

_Liam._

“I asked you specifically to limit your interactions with the other teams, to limit your interactions with Payne from England.”

Niall let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. It was about Liam. Well, that wasn't so bad. It was bad, sure, but it wasn't as though he'd screwed up out on the pitch. “Yeah,” Niall said slowly. “I know, and I tried...”

“Niall,” Walshy said to him, sterner this time. “I could have you thrown off the team for this. You could be packing your things and leaving right now.”

Niall was sure his heart skipped a beat. Maybe a number of them. He really hadn't thought it was so bad. Sure he and Liam had met up a few times, and okay, they were texting a lot, and well, yes, they'd confirmed themselves as boyfriends.

But no one knew about that! Niall was certain no one knew about that – even Sean didn't know about that, and Sean knew everything. Being with Liam wasn't causing the damage Walshy thought it was – in fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect. Niall had more energy than ever before. Which was saying a lot, considering he was a ball of energy as it was.

“It's not affecting the team,” Niall said, his mouth dry.

Walshy gave him a look that said otherwise. “It is.”

“How could it?” Niall asked, sounding almost desperate. “No one even knows about it!”

Walshy only shook his head slightly. “You don't think so, do you?” 

Niall only shook his head as Walshy pulled out his phone and handed it to Niall, an article splashed across the screen.

_**PAYNE SETS HIS SIGHTS ON THE EMERALD ISLE** _

And right underneath the trashy words that did little to describe anything about their relationship was a picture that said everything.

The same picture that Ali had taken just days before in his hotel room.

Niall frowned as he passed the phone back to his coach. Fear and anger and worry bubbled in his chest, threatening to spill over in the form of... well, Niall didn't know what, exactly. If he opened his mouth he was unsure if sobs or screams would come out.

So he kept it shut and let Walshy do the talking.

“Niall,” he said, with no less seriousness than he'd had moments ago. “This is serious. This is the biggest tournament in football. The biggest sporting event in the world. You're representing your country. Everyone in Ireland is counting on us. We have to stick together as a team, not spend most of our time off with players from others. Even the lads who play on clubs with people from other teams aren't interacting with them because they're our competition.”

Niall just nodded his head. Right, he understood that just fine. He knew that Liam was a competition, he'd known that all along and quite frankly just thinking about it still blew his mind a little bit.

“They're our competition,” Walshy repeated, as if it wasn't ringing through Niall's mind over and over again already.

“Right, I know,” Niall finally said with annoyance. He was acting like a brat and he knew it, but he couldn't help getting defensive. He still didn't think what he'd done was that bad.

But Walshy did, and when your coach says that you've done something wrong you'd damn well better agree with him.

Walshy stood up and eyed Niall before leaving the room. “You end it with him, or you're on the bench for the rest of the tournament.”

Walshy slammed the door and for the first time since arriving in Brazil, Niall put his head in his hands and cried.

***

Simon wasn't as easygoing of a coach as Walshy was.

“What in the bloodyest of hells were you thinking, Payne?!”

He also didn't believing in using his players first names, ever.

Liam shrugged, because he knew better than to talk back when Simon was having a flip-out. Even though this time, his flip out was completely warranted. Liam could hear Simon (oh, he could definitely hear him, he was shouting loud enough) but he wasn't totally listening.

It wasn't that he didn't care – of course he did. He'd be a fool not to. Simon had made it quite clear that his entire career was at stake. He just didn't seem to care about the part that Simon seemed to fixated on – the entire world knew about him and Niall and the entire world was talking about it.

Well, the entire world that cared about professional football, anyway. Which was basically the entire world. Save for a couple of countries in North America.

That was the part Simon seemed to care about, which led to the part that Liam cared about, which was getting sacked off the team.

And even if he wasn't particularly crazy about football lately, he really didn't want that. Besides, Niall had given him that fire back, he actually cared about football, he cared about winning, he cared about getting that goal more than he had in months.

And it was all thanks to the blonde who Simon was currently shouting about.

“Sorry,” Liam said slowly, when there was a pause.

“Sorry?” Simon shouted. “You're sorry? That's all you have to say for yourself.”

“Yeah.”

Simon sighed, obviously out of energy to continue pacing around the room. “Payne, this is ridiculous. You know that, right? You can't gallivant around with someone from another team. We're here for England. The entire country is watching our every move. They're waiting for us to screw it all up.”

Liam had to use every fibre of his being to not roll his eyes. “It's not like I crawled into the goal with the ball,” he said, trying to lighten the mood a bit. “I didn't kick the ball and have it bounce on the goal line, I didn't step on an opposing player's crotch when he pissed me off,” he rattled, listing all the stupid thing that had happened to their national team in the past few years. “I just... I just fell in love with him,” he admitted in a small voice, as awkward as it was to be saying that to his coach, it was true.

“Right,” Simon said with a sigh, running a hand through his wiry black hair. “Well fall out of it, because I won't have us be the laughing stock of the nation again.”

_Fall out of it?_ Liam looked up at Simon with disgust before he could stop himself.

“I'm serious, Payne. Fall out of it, end it, stop seeing him because if another photo ends up online of the two of you, you'll be on the bench so quickly.” 

“So I'll be on the bench because I'm in love with a boy,” Liam shrugged, knowing he was testing his limits. The whole thing was completely ridiculous to him. The article (as much as he'd been able to read, anyway, before it had been snatched away from him in favour of more yelling) hadn't even been that bad.

“No,” Simon said through gritted teeth. “Love all the boys you want, I could care less. Just don't love the ones who are on another team!” he shouted again.

Liam gulped. He just nodded, not wanting to press the issue further.

“It's done,” Simon confirmed, giving Liam a hard look before stepping out of the door.

Liam just shook his head slightly, tears starting to well up in his eyes as he opened up the article on his phone.

_**PAYNE SETS HIS SIGHTS ON THE EMERALD ISLE** _

_Who'd have thought that in the midst of a footy tournament (And not just any footy tournament, Scapers, but the biggest tournament in the world!) we'd be telling a love story?_

_Certainly not us – in fact we were all geared up to pretend to be interested while just looking at pictures of hot boys running around the pitch._

_But instead our own Liam Payne of Chelsea decided to give all of us what we truly want (no, not naked photos) but a scandal! Of the BEST variety._

_It seems like he's been spending his downtime with Ireland's Niall Horan. We don't even blame him one bit – look at that grin, look at that blonde hair, those adorable blue eyes. Swoon. Why didn't anyone tell us that Irish Football is where the hotties are at?_

_Clearly because Payne wanted to keep them all for himself, cheeky bastard. Check out this photo tweeted by who we can only assume is a close personal friend of one of the lads._

_**@alimcginley** : sooo cute @NiallOfficial and @Real_Liam_Payne #boyfriends _

_Adorable, aren't they?_

_Maybe if we ask nice enough Niall will leak us those naked photos we mentioned before._


	11. Chapter 11

Niall was angrier than he'd ever remembered himself being.

He wasn't even sure who he was angry at, he just was. 

He knew he was definitely angry with Ali, even though this mess couldn't have been her intention. He wouldn't even allow himself to go down that road – he couldn't fathom anyone doing something that awful to him, much less his best friend.

He was angry with his coach for making such a big deal out of something that was so small. Or maybe it was a big deal – but not a big deal in a bad way. Nothing about this had been a big deal in a bad way until Walshy had shown up at his door full of disappointment and annoyance.

He was definitely angry with himself. He'd idolized Liam far too much and when Liam had started paying more attention to him, and when they'd actually clicked he'd let that cloud his better judgement.

He couldn't believe he'd let this jeopardize his career even in the slightest. Along with anger, he also felt shame. If Walshy was this upset with him, who knew how his teammates were going to feel. How Sean was going to feel – not only because of what Niall had done but because he'd kept it a secret.

Niall continued to sob in frustration until a soft knock at his door interrupted him.

He tried as best he could to dry to eyes and wiped his hands on his shorts. If it was Ali standing at the door, Niall wasn't sure whether he was going to collapse into a mess of sobs in her arms or scream at her.

Luckily he wasn't going to have to choose – it was Liam of all people.

Another poor judgement call and Niall was opening the door, quick to usher his forbidden boyfriend inside.

“What're you doing here?” he asked, a harsher tone in his voice than he would have liked.

“I came to see if you were alright,” Liam said easily, and judging from Niall's red-rimmed eyes, he obviously wasn't. “I suppose your coach yelled at you too.”

Niall gave Liam a look. He wasn't overly good at being angry, and he wasn't overly good at being a smartass either. So he just stood there with a pout and his arms crossed over his chest.

Liam sighed and walked over closer to Niall, brushing his cheek with his hand.

Niall shrugged him away, not interested in his touch. “What're you doing here?” he asked again. “My coach said I'd better stay away from you or I'm on the bench. I don't really fancy being on the bench.”

Liam was taken aback a little by this unfamiliar tone from Niall, but it wasn't unwarranted. Football was Niall's life, and to feel like he'd let his coach down must have been deeply upsetting for him. But Liam was the only other person who could even begin to understand what Niall was going through – surely that meant that even if they couldn't see each other for the rest of the tournament, they could at least share their grief with each other for five minutes.

Or not. “Go on then,” Niall said, choking back a sob. “We're not supposed to be seen together.”

Liam shook his head. “We're in your hotel room, no one can see us.”

Niall scoffed. “Not true,” he said, jerking away from Liam again. “We spent most of our time sneaking around hotel rooms before and they saw us just fine.”

“Right,” Liam said. He hadn't come to his room looking for a fight – quite the opposite in fact. But now he found himself beginning to get annoyed with Niall's attitude. “And how did that happen? Because I certainly wasn't the one taking pictures of us and posting them online for the entire world to see.”

“What?” Niall asked, glaring at Liam. He knew this wasn't Liam's fault and that he probably shouldn't be picking a fight with him, but he was so upset he didn't know what to do with himself. “You think Ali did this on purpose?”

“She tweeted that picture of us, Niall. When she knew it wasn't supposed to get out. I don't-”

“That's rubbish,” Niall almost laughed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Absolute rubbish. Ali didn't mean for any of this to happen. I haven't even talked to her yet.”

“Niall,” Liam said slowly, because as pissed off as he was, he still didn't feel the need to yell. “You shouldn't have even let her take pictures of us.”

“You didn't stop her either,” Niall pointed out.

“Because she's your friend!” Liam shouted, losing the little bit of cool he had left. “She's your friend and I wanted to her to be cool with me, especially since it seemed like she really wasn't. You even told me yourself she had trouble with the fact that you weren't attracted to her. Now look what's happened, do you really think it's a coincidence? Do you really think that it was all innocent?”

Niall gulped, furious with himself, and furious with Ali because even though he didn't want to believe him, Liam probably wasn't wrong.

He just couldn't let himself admit it. He wouldn't because that would mean that everything he'd known, everything he'd trusted about his best friend for his whole life was a lie.

“What do you want me to do, Liam?” Niall asked, his eyes wide and his breath short. “I can't exactly take it back!”

“No,” Liam said angrily. “You can't, can you?”

“No,” Niall shrugged with false nonchalance. “What's done is done, so you best get out of my room before I'm on the bench, because I won't have my entire career ruined because of you.” He pointed towards the door and nodded his head at Liam.

“Fine,” Liam said, shaking his head and walking towards the door. “You know, I came here to comfort you.”

“A lot of good that did,” Niall said sharply.

But Liam was already gone, slamming the door behind him.

***

Liam walked briskly back to his hotel room, with his head down and his heart very clearly on his sleeve. He was so up in his own head that he didn't even notice Louis leaning against his hotel room door.

“Where'd you go?” he asked with a cheeky grin that only Louis could accomplish under such dire circumstances.

Liam grunted and pushed past Louis, eager to get into his room. Louis followed him of course, jumping a little bit for show when Liam threw his key onto the desk fairly over-dramatically.

“So you went to see blondie,” Louis said.

“What do you want, Lou?” Liam snapped, sitting down on his bed and looking up at his friend.

Louis shrugged. “I came to see if you were alright. Simon looked pretty upset when saw him leaving your room before – but you're still here, so that's a good sign. You didn't get sacked, then.”

“No,” Liam said glumly.

“Why didn't you tell me that you were seeing him?” Louis asked, changing the subject only slightly.

Liam looked up at Louis in disgust. “Are you mad? Because then this would have happened ten times as quickly.”

Louis raised his eyebrow. “Right, like I would have wanted to deliberately put you in such a sour mood. No wonder you've been so chipper lately.”

Liam shrugged. Niall really had put him in much better spirits – not that it mattered now. 

“The article wasn't really that bad,” Louis said with a slight shrug, trying to cheer Liam up. 

“Simon thought it was.”

Louis laughed. He actually laughed, even though Liam was so close to his breaking point. “Simon thinks everything is bad,” he pointed out. “Anything that's not us winning the cup, which by the way we had a much bigger shot at doing when you weren't moping about.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Give me a break, Lou.”

“I'm just saying. So you keep it quiet for a bit, you can go back to shagging him after the tournament. Or was he shagging you? How'd that end up working out anyway, was he more dominant than I expected?”

“God, Lou,” Liam groaned, putting his hands over his face and falling backwards onto the bed. 

“Oh Liam, stop being so dramatic.”

“That's a laugh, coming from you,” Liam muttered, his voice still muffled by his hands.

“I mean it,” Louis said, ignoring Liam implying that he was the dramatic one (mostly because it was true.) “Just keep off him for the rest of the-”

“No,” Liam said, sitting back up and shaking his head. “It's done. We had a fight and he kicked me out and yeah, it's done. Said he wasn't going to mess up his career on account of me. Which is fair I suppose.”

Louis only shrugged. “I suppose it is.”

“Really?” Liam asked.

“Well what did you want me to say? That it's a bullshit reason and that you should go chase after him? It's not really. It sucks Liam, but what can you do? Don't forget we've got a tournament to play. If you really want to stick to him, and I mean that in the least dirty way possible,” he smirked, raising his hands. “Just play your best so we can send his team packing.”

Liam just nodded. Yes, he supposed that was what he was going to have to do.

***

Two minutes after Niall had sent Ali a text message telling her to get to his room, _now_ , she was standing in front of him.

She looked sheepish, her hands in her pockets and her bottom lip sticking out. Nevertheless, Niall didn't falter. Her facade had never worked on him – and it never really had to before. He'd never been so angry with her in his life.

But the more he looked at her the more he felt upset and betrayed. The more he felt so unbelievably stupid for trusting her and thinking that she had actually been truthful when she'd said she was happy for him and that she was over and sort of feelings she'd had for him.

“I was so stupid,” Niall muttered, running a hand through his hair and looking at Ali. He began to pace a little bit, but stopped and looked out the window.

“Niall-” she started, but stopped short when he turned to look at her.

“What?” he snapped. “What could you possibly have to say?”

She shrugged, and it made Niall almost laugh. Because as far as he was concerned she should have been grovelling at his feet for forgiveness – which in turn made him feel guilty. Every time he felt one way, his head or heart told him it was wrong. Everything was conflicted and jumbled up in his brain.

All he knew was that seeing her made him see red.

“You're the one who invited me here – actually, you told me you needed me to come here now.”

Niall nodded. Yeah, he had done that. Because he'd had every intention of screaming at her and taking out all his anger on her. But now that she was standing right in front of him, those fantasies didn't quite manifest themselves. He couldn't bring himself to raise his voice at all.

Maybe her act was working on him. Or maybe he just wasn't a shouting type of person.

“Why?” he asked quietly instead.

“Why what?” she asked, annoyance in her voice as she put her hands on her hips. “I didn't do anything wrong.”

Niall scoffed. “Right, I suppose posting that picture of me and Liam on your public twitter and tagging us both in it wasn't anything wrong? It didn't cause me to get in shit with my coach, for all of this,” he paused, waving his arms around the hotel room, “To almost end? Ali, I worked too hard for this to blow it.”

“And that's my fault?” she challenged. “Fuck off, Niall. I didn't push you into his bed. You were already there when I got here. Thanks a lot for that, by the way.”

“I didn't need you to tell the entire fucking world about it! I told you it was a secret, I told you that no one was supposed to know because the exact thing was going to happen. You were supposed to be my friend, I trusted you!” he said, raising his voice and moving his arm as if to give his words more force. He stepped away from the window, starting to pace around the room again.

“I already told you it was an accident, and honestly Niall, friends?” she asked in a small voice, looking at him.

Niall's eyes widened. “Yes, Ali,” he said sharply. “ _Friends_. That's all we are and that's all we're ever going to be.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes dramatically.

“What do you want me to say, Ali?” Niall shouted, finding the rage he'd felt when he'd initially texted her.

She sighed and blinked back tears, causing Niall to roll his eyes at her theatrics. “Maybe I want you to say that we're more than friends, and that you have some kind of feelings for me.”

“Well we're not,” Niall said. “We're not at all. And I don't,” he said shortly, looking straight at her. “I'm gay, Ali. You know that, you've known that as long as I've known that. I like boys, I like _Liam_.”

“I know,” Ali cried.

“I don't think you do,” Niall said with annoyance.

“I do,” she cried. “I just thought, I don't know,” she sighed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I thought maybe if something happened between you and Liam then maybe you'd realise that you should be with me instead.”

Niall was stunned speechless for a second. “What?”

“I didn't mean to break the two of you up, and I was happy for you.”

“You obviously weren't,” Niall cut her off. 

“I was,” she insisted. “But, I mean maybe I posted that sort of hoping it would get found. I don't know, Nialler-”

“Don't call me that,” he said through gritted teeth.

She continued, ignoring the obvious fact that Niall was getting even more upset with her by the second. “I just thought it was sort of a fling and when it ended you'd be okay and that this would pass and we could be together,” she said, tears falling down her face.

Niall was too livid to feel sorry for her. He slammed his hand down on the desk. “Are you fucking serious?”

“I didn't mean-”

“You did!” he shouted, startling her out of her tears for a moment. “You just admitted that you meant for it to happen, you meant for it to get found. I mean, Christ Ali, I didn't want to believe that, but... what kind of a friend does that?”

“I don't-”

“No kind of friend,” Niall continued, standing firm in place and not taking his eyes off of her. “No kind of friend does something like that. Do you see what you've done? Is this what you wanted? To ruin a lifelong friendship?”

Ali shook her head desperately, stepping a little bit closer to Niall. “No, I-”

“Because that's what you did!” he shouted, causing her to take a step back. “You ruined it, Ali. How can I ever trust you again? Even if I was attracted to girls, how could you ever think that after doing something like that I'd want to be with you? That I'd have any sort of romantic feelings for someone who obviously only cares about themselves and what they want?”

“I'm sorry,” she sobbed.

“It's not good enough,” he said. He was no longer shouting, but his voice was still firm. “Go, Ali. Go home.”

“Nialler,” she pleaded, moving towards him.

“ _Go_ ,” he said again, pointing at the door. “That's not my name to you anymore.”

She looked at him for another moment, covering her mouth and choking back sobs. But she did as she was told, and left his room without another word.

Niall took a deep breath, trying to ease the tightening in his chest. He laid down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling of his hotel room. “Fuck my life,” he muttered, covering his face with his hands.

Words he never thought he'd say as a player on a World Cup national team.


	12. Chapter 12

Niall ran up and down the pitch, chest heaving and hair flopping around.

A week later, and it was their last game in group play against South Korea.

They hadn't done badly, all things considered. Both of the other games they'd played had come up as draws, and with this final one, they were fighting with South Korea for second place in their group.

It was tense, because of course this was essentially a knockout game. Whoever didn't seal the second place was going home once it was all over.

Niall knew it was important – he truly did. But keeping his head in the game was difficult was there was a small voice speaking to him inside of it.

He'd been keeping his eye on the stats over the course of the tournament – most of the players had been, really. But Niall especially, he knew what was going on with every team and their odds of making it to the next round. 

It wasn't unlike him. In fact, this was the most himself he'd been since arriving in Brazil.

Unfortunately, keeping up with the match statistics and fixtures was the reason for his distraction. Ever since England's second win three days prior, they'd secured their place as the winner of their group. Which meant that if Ireland won this game, they were going to be facing them the following Saturday in – where else?

Rio de Janeiro, of course.

Niall had always known that was a possibility. He'd known it since before he'd ever met Liam – the winner of Group C would be playing the second place from Group D. He'd just never thought that much of it until the possibility was staring him right in the face. 

Now he was fighting for his chance to fight against Liam, and the more his cleats tore up the grass underneath him, the more he wanted it.

Over the past few days there had been a few more articles of speculation, but nothing with photographic evidence of any sort. How could there have been? The two boys had done as instructed – stay as far away from each other as possible.

Niall wasn't one for getting angry – but every time he thought about that mess his breath got a little shorter. Ali had gone home just like he'd told her to, and after he'd had a little time to cool down he'd felt sort of bad about all of that. She'd betrayed him – and he knew that. It was the only thing that was keeping him from texting her an apology.

But his door slamming on account of Ali wasn't the sound that was stuck in his head. Liam leaving his room after their shouting match took that award. Even more so than Ali's immature actions, that was the part making Niall's blood boil.

And it wasn't even Liam. Liam hadn't forced himself into his bed. He'd just been his sweet, normal, wonderful self. Even after getting the piss taken out of him, he'd still come to see if Niall was alright.

Niall gritted his teeth as he tried not to think about it. He hated himself for being so weak – for letting his feelings and the excitement of his first real relationship nearly get in the way of his goals.

If he was going to have to play against Liam, he was definitely going to give it his all. There was no way he was going to give him the satisfaction of blowing his chance in the tournament in every possible way.

Niall's feet hit the ground harder and harder as he chased the ball. Liam didn't love football like he did. He wasn't like a magnet drawn to it – he didn't have that competitive need to be the absolute best. The chanting of the crowd didn't pump through his veins and energize him. Not in the way that Niall felt at that very moment during the final tense minutes of the game.

They _had_ to win this.

South Korea got a penalty kick and Niall looked over at the clock. There were only two minutes left in the game and it was still tied up. He ran over to join his teammates and of course, they were quick to take possession of the ball again.

They'd actually had possession for a good portion of the game, they'd just been blowing it when it came to actually scoring a goal. Which was driving Walshy absolutely mad – as evidenced by the fact that his hands hadn't left the top of his head for the entire game.

Niall ran across the field and accepted a pass from Sean as two South Korean players chased after him. He was quick to kick the ball away to another player, and watched as it was then passed to another on their team.

Niall kept running as he watched his teammate make yet another shot on goal – the ball sailed through the air and even though the goalie jumped into the air with his arms outstretched, the attempt was futile.

The ball hit the back of the net and the crowd cheered. The match was over and Ireland had solidified their place in The Round of 16.

***

Liam was already back in Rio de Janeiro, drowning his sorrows in beer (which for Liam, meant he'd drank half a pint) at the hotel bar while he watched the match on the flatscreen TV.

It was sad, really. Over the past week, he'd probably paid just as much attention to Ireland as he had his own team – maybe more. He had never paid much attention to match statistics, preferring to let his coach deal with all of that. But this time he couldn't help but pay attention. Not when he knew what was at stake. And as he watched the last minutes of the match unfold in front of him, Cullen's match-winning goal and all, he found himself biting his bottom lip as his heart sank.

He'd known for the last couple days that if Ireland won their last match there was a good chance they'd be playing against them in the Round of 16. 

When England team had walked off the pitch with much less enthusiasm than Ireland had – Liam especially. With the statistics the way they were, their match against Italy hadn't even mattered. They'd still come out first in their group. But of course no one likes to lose. For the past three days Liam was taking it doubly as hard as he'd waited with baited breath to find out if after spending all this time avoiding him, he'd be staring Niall right in the face on the pitch. The absolute last place he wanted to see him.

Liam couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach, but he also couldn't peel his eyes away from the TV. It was cutting in and out of match highlights, back to clips of England's more recent game and talking about the matchup.

Luckily, there wasn't any mention of his relationship with Niall. Liam was at least thankful for that, but it didn't stop his chest from tightening when he saw _**Niall Horan – Forward**_ with his smiling face and match statistics flash along the bottom of the screen.

Of course, whenever Liam was feeling glum, Louis was always two steps ahead of him with a sassy grin on his face.

“The was shit,” Louis said, plopping down beside Liam with a pint his his hand. He nodded up at the screen which was yet again showing some highlights from their match against Italy.

Liam nodded, even if he didn't agree with the use of past tense. It was still shit, as far as he was concerned. It was just no longer because of a bunch of Italians.

“I hate playing Italy,” Louis said, shaking his head.

Liam nodded again, because he could at least agree with that. Italy always gave them a run for their money, and they usually came up poor.

“But cheer up, mate,” Louis grinned, putting his arm around his friend. “Our next match is against Ireland – and we can definitely beat those losers. They're rubbish, this is the only game they won and it was on pure luck.”

Liam just looked at Louis as he continued to babble on. He knew what his friend was trying to do, and he wasn't sure if he was grateful or if it annoyed him.

“I mean come on, it was against South Korea! Anyone can beat South Korea. Hell, they barely even qualified. Liam, we've basically already made it to the quarter-finals. I hope you realise that,” Louis said with a smirk before taking a long swig of his pint.

“Shut up, Lou,” Liam muttered. Seemed like annoyance had won out, as it usually did when Louis was involved.

Louis just gave him a look. “Don't you want to send blondie home, crying all the way?”

Liam glanced back up at the TV screen, which had since gone to a commercial break. He couldn't help but remember Niall's red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained face the last time he'd seen him. That was the last thing he ever wanted to see again. “No,” he said honestly. 

“No?” Louis asked, setting his pint down on the table and looking at Liam with narrowed eyes. “Well you'd better want it, Liam. Regardless of whatever relationship you had with him, you should want to crush them.”

Liam shrugged.

“We're at the World Cup,” Louis reminded him. “I won't have you throw the match just because you want him to do well and because you want to see his dream come true. What about your dream?”

“This isn't my dream, Louis,” Liam said, shaking his head. He hadn't actually said that out loud before, but it was true. The only thing that had rekindled his love of football was the residue Niall left whenever he was around. He dusted love of the sport wherever he went, so it was only natural some of it would rub off on Liam.

Until he wasn't around anymore.

“Well it's mine,” Louis said seriously, his thick accent snipping his words. “I don't give a fuck if you're down or pissed off or whatever because this isn't where you thought you'd be. But when we play against them you'd better give it your all.”

Liam scoffed. “You sound like Simon.”

“Good,” Louis snapped, standing up from his chair and shoving it back under the table. “Best you hear that kind of advice from someone you actually respect.” 

Before Liam had a chance to respond, Louis was walking briskly out of the restaurant. 

Liam sighed to himself as he watched him go. He knew Louis was right. He couldn't let his feelings for Niall get in the way of his effort during the game. If nothing else, he wasn't about to let his team down. 

He'd just have to ignore the burning pain in his chest which told him he'd be robbing the boy he loved of everything he'd ever wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Thanks as always for reading, giving kudos and commenting. You guys are the absolute best x  
> 2\. I reeeeeally want to go see 1D on the WWA tour (obvs) but I don't really want to drag my boyf! So if anyone is interested in going to the Toronto show (or Chicago or something, I live in the middle of nowhere and will have to travel anyway) send me a message or tweet me! :) x


	13. Chapter 13

Niall put his hand over his face the following Saturday as he scrolled through his phone.

He was sitting in the locker room, cleats tied up, knee brace secured and of course, decked out in full kit. Their match was set to begin in thirty minutes, but he was just taking a quick moment to sit on the wooden bench and check his e-mails.

Of course there was one from another friend of his back home – kind enough to let him know that he was _again_ mentioned in an article on Sugarscape.

He clicked on it, of course. This was all so new to him – sure, he'd been on TV before, and people in Ireland knew who he was. But he'd never been talked and speculated about to this magnitude. He wasn't sure he liked it much.

Plus Sugarscape had a vibe to their articles that he didn't really get.

_**PAYNE MEETS HIS MATCH** _

_This is just delicious, in a Shakespearean tragedy sort of way! As the 2014 FIFA World Cup moves on from Group Play to The Round of 16, the competition couldn't get any more fierce for Liam Payne._

_And we suppose for Niall Horan, as well. You'll recall him, Scapers. The adorable little blonde from the Republic of Ireland? Yeah. Conflicted on who to root for in Saturday's match up? So are we._

_And so is our own Liam Payne, we reckon. Because in a not-so-unpredictable turn of events, England will face Ireland in the first round of knockout matches._

_Who will win? Who will lose? Will there be a tragic on screen kiss between the two when one of their teams is sent home? How are they even surviving knowing they have to be a part of their lover's inevitable defeat?_

_The tension!_

_And to think that we thought football was delightfully dull_

He switched his phone off and stuffed it back in his bag. At least the article wasn't negative. Quite the opposite, actually. 

“You ready, mate?” Sean asked, sitting down on the bench beside Niall.

Niall nodded enthusiastically, but it held less sincerity than it would have under normal circumstances. “Yeah!” he forced a grin on his face and tried not to think about Liam.

Sean put his arm around Niall. “We're going to crush them. They didn't make it out of the round of 16 in the Euro. Those English have no idea what's coming for them!”

Niall nodded. Did he want to be face to face with Liam? Not particularly. But since he had to, his only option was to win. He wasn't going to be the one to go down, and if anything Liam being a part of the competition only fuelled his need to move on to the next round.

He'd worked far too hard for this. Overcome far more than he should have over the course of the past two weeks. There was nothing that was going to stop him from staying in Brazil.

“No idea,” Niall repeated, nodding his head firmly and looking at Sean. He stood up and stretched, looking around at the rest of their team.

They could do this. It would be a cakewalk.

***

There were cheers when the two teams walked out onto the pitch. There always were, but they seemed duller to Liam this time around.

He trotted across the pitch in a straight line with his teammates towards the other team, as was standard at the beginning of a match. Of course, the other team didn't usually employ a boy who he was hopelessly in love with, and who he was quite sure hated him.

He came closer to them, and a lump threatened to rise in his throat. 

_It's just a game_ he scolded himself. _Stop getting so worked up._

It wasn't just a game, of course. He listened to Niall talk for hours about how important Football was to him, and how exciting the World Cup was to him. But Sugarscape had put into words Liam's exact struggle.

He was going to have to part of his lover's inevitable defeat.

Even if Niall wasn't his lover anymore. But Sugarscape or every other media outlet either didn't know or didn't care about that. They were only focused on the scandal wrapped in a love story. Or was it the other way around? Liam wasn't quite sure, but the thought occupied his mind as he began to walk past the other team, briefly shaking all of their hands.

His breath hitched in his throat as he came up to Niall. 

Three people away, and he planned to look Niall in the face and smile.

Two people away and he planned to just keep the same neutral expression.

One person away and his heart beat faster.

He touched Niall's hand briefly, and there was no time for him to smile or change his expression from anything other than neutral. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Niall had darted his eyes away from his face.

But the smile that he'd had on his face hadn't vanished. His head had been down, yes, but that didn't mean his excitement had faded. In a weird way, it actually made Liam feel better and more pumped up for the match. 

Niall's enthusiasm really was infectious, and at this point he was going to take any of it he could get. He'd have to, if he had any hope of actually being an asset to his team.

When they were finished shaking hands, they kept their line formation, standing with their hands over their chests as _God Save the Queen_ began to play.

Two minutes later, their anthem was over and the Irish national anthem began to play. Liam darted his eyes over to the back of Niall's head for just a second. He imagined how he must have been bursting with pride at that moment. 

He took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was there for England and not to support Niall. 

There was a quick speech and minutes later, the whistle was blowing and the match was underway.

Liam was slated to be on the pitch for a good portion of the match, and Niall was out there as well. For the first five minutes, it seemed easy. England had possession of the ball for most of the time – when Liam was passed the ball he hardly had to think. His body just went through the motions, receive the ball, look for a teammate who was open, kick it over to him.

It was simple, really. In fact, he could almost forget that Niall was out there, since he was on the other end of the field.

Niall watched his teammates intently as they struggled to get the ball away from the English players. It was frustrating – he was hovering, ready to accept the ball and make a shot on goal, but that could only be done if he was actually passed the ball.

It was times like this when he really despised Walshy's rigid formation strategy. But he couldn't do much other than try to keep himself in the best position to make his move when he was needed.

It didn't happen much. Halfway into the first half, England had already made three shots on goal and Ireland had made none. They'd hardly even had possession, any time that any of his teammates had taken the ball, it had been immediately intercepted.

Niall looked back at Walshy, who was standing there watching the match with his arms folded over his chest. It was the only time he ever had seen his coach look so serious.

Well, that and when he'd told him to stay away from Liam. Which was ironic, given the current situation.

Niall wanted so badly to prove to his team that he could do this, that he could play and win despite breaking the rules so badly. But it was difficult when he didn't even have a chance to touch the ball.

Until finally, _finally_ , his team got possession. Niall ran further back towards the England goal, keeping himself as open as possible. When it was as clear as it was going to get, the ball came towards him and he swooped it towards himself effortlessly. 

He took a shot on goal and barely had time to hold his breath before the crowd (well, the people in the crowd who were wearing green, anyway) were screaming and cheering.

Niall pumped his fist in the air – Ireland were up 1 – 0.

The cheering and excitement lasted only a few minutes as play was once again underway. And once again, for much of the time England had possession. 

Ireland would try to make a comeback, of course, but at that point the goal had changed for them. Instead of trying to score more points, they now just had to maintain the score. Which left Niall coming off the pitch to be subbed in for another member of the team who was less apt at scoring goals and Liam trying his best to assist in the same thing Niall had just done.

As Niall watched from the sidelines, Liam ran and played harder than he probably ever had in his life. His chest was heaving and his legs were sore – and it was only the last few minutes of the first half.

The ball came towards him again, and again he tried to pass it off to a team member who would score a goal and even things up.

He kept the ball in between his feet as he ran, easily holding onto it until Rooney was open. He quickly passed the ball to his teammate, who was quick to take yet another shot on goal.

Only this time, it didn't end with an exasperated sigh from the crowd. This time, there were loud cheers from the other half of the fans in the stands.

This time, they'd managed to score.

Liam punched his fist in the air and high-fived Louis as he ran by. 

He could do this, despite the nagging voice in the back of his mind wondering how Niall felt at that moment.

***

“Lads,” Walshy said to them during their mid-game pep talk. “We can still do this. We were up before, we can be up again.”

Niall nodded eagerly. His feet tapped the ground with impatience. All he needed to hear was that was going to be put back out. He could do this – he was sure of it. Walshy just needed to give him the chance.

And of course, Walshy didn't let him down. By the time of the second half, Niall was back out on the pitch. Ready and waiting, he hovered in his standard formation, ready for the ball to come his way.

And it did, multiple times, in fact. But every time he was able to get it, it was either intercepted or taken from him. He was beginning to get frustrated. England's defense was getting far more aggressive, and he was going to have to up his game if he had any chance of helping his team on their road to victory.

Because they had to win. He wasn't going to go out like this – not when Liam was out on the field with him. Not when his entire country was watching him and wondering if the reason he was failing was because he was too distracted by his “lover.”

The ball came sailing towards him, and normally Niall would have just waited until it hit the ground and then swept it under his legs with his foot. This time, however, he wasn't taking any chances. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, and he ran towards the ball.

Without thinking, Niall met the ball and jumped up, stopping it with his right knee. He barely had time to register what was happening before pain began to sear through his shin. He knew that he was probably screaming obscenities, but the only thing he could hear was the blinding crack of his kneecap over and over again.

He fell to the ground, clutching his knee. Tears were springing to his eyes, but he wouldn't let himself cry. They couldn't go out like this – he wasn't about to let it be his fault for their loss.

But damn – he couldn't even move.

“Niall?”

Niall peeled his eyes open, because he had no idea who would be addressing him by his given name. In fact, he was half expecting Walshy to be standing over him, screaming at him to get up.

But it wasn't Walshy. In fact, the man standing above him was a much, much nicer sight than their coach. His dark brown eyes were shining over him with concern and somehow Niall forgot about his knee for just a moment as he gets lost in the other player's gaze.

Payne. Well, Liam, Niall supposed.

Speaking of pain. “Fuck...” Niall muttered, still clutching his knee. He would probably be rolling around the field if he thought there was a hope of him moving without passing out.

“Are you alright, love?” Liam asked him, kneeling down and looking at him. The match be damned. As soon as he'd seen Niall go down he'd darted over to him. He didn't think he'd ever run so fast in his life.

Niall couldn't even utter another word. No, he wasn't alright. The least of his problems was the pain in his knee. The worst? Well, likely having to sit out of the rest of the match was a start.

The medics rushed over to him in no time of course, checking him out and deeming him unable to walk. The match continued to be halted while he was loaded onto a stretcher.

“I'm going with you,” Liam said, but Louis grabbed his shoulder. 

“Like hell you are,” he spat, pulling him back.

“Don't,” Niall choked out, looking over at Liam. He shook his head and mustered up everything he had to smile, just a little bit, for Liam's benefit. “You've got a match to play.”

Liam just nodded as he watched Niall get carried off. The whistle blew, and after a quick huddle, the match was underway again.

Ireland felt Niall's loss – it became clear how much of an asset he was as soon as he was gone. Even though England had kept possession of the ball for most of the match, Ireland had even less shots on goal and far more intercepted passes.

It wasn't long before the score was changed to 2 – 1 for England.

Of course, that was with no help at all from Liam. After ten minutes of running around the pitch with his head elsewhere, he was subbed off and pinned to the bench.

He couldn't care less, really. In fact, all he could think about was Niall. Yes, a part of him was happy that his team was so clearly winning this match. And really, he did want to continue on.

He just didn't want it to be at the expense of Niall going home. He had never wanted that, and now it was ten times worse. Now Niall was surely going to put Ireland's loss on his shoulders. Or more accurately, his knee.

Liam put his head in his hands as he thought about it, and when the final whistle blew after an additional two minutes of injury time (not that it mattered) he watched his team cheer.

He ran out onto the pitch in excitement as well. It was hard not to be a little excited. His team was moving on to the quarter-finals. Even though he knew in his head he should be happy, his heart couldn't help but ache as he glanced at the Irish team walking off the pitch in defeat.


	14. Chapter 14

_“We're going to give you something for the pain, alright?”_

_“Shouldn't have even been playing in that match today... this was just waiting to happen.”_

_“Not much we can do right now... he'll have to have surgery when he gets home.”_

When Niall woke up a few hours later, his mind was a blur. He was in his hotel room, and he vaguely remembered being attended to, having his knee sufficiently bandaged up, and then collapsing onto his bed to sleep away the rest of the evening.

Oh, he also remembered hearing that Ireland had lost the match. Scratching his head, he sat up and looked around. His eyes still felt droopy, and he wondered what sort of pain medicine they'd given him that had knocked him out like that.

It must have been working, because his knee only slightly stung. When he looked down at it, he noticed it was severely bandaged up, and upon closer inspection of the room, he saw crutches leaning against the wall.

The last time he'd been on crutches was when he'd injured his knee in the fist place. He certainly wasn't looking forward to dealing with travelling all the way home with a freshly messed up knee, that was for sure.

_Home_. That was the last place he wanted to be headed towards. But his World Cup dream was all over for now. He glanced down at his knee again and sighed. If he hadn't been so stupid and gotten himself injured in the first place, maybe his team would still be in the running.

Instead, it was England who would continue on.

Niall took a deep breath as he remembered Liam. Liam, who had been hovering over him on the pitch and Liam who had said he was going to go with him as he was carried away.

Niall scoffed – that was just silly. Of course Liam couldn't leave such an important game just for the sake of him – someone who was on the opposing team, no less! Still, when he thought about the genuine look of concern on Liam's face as he'd struggled to keep his eyes open, his heart felt warm.

At least Liam was getting to continue on, and that was something. He glanced around the room for a bit, and his eyes fell on his bag, which contained his phone.

He wondered if he should text Liam. With his team out of the tournament, there was no reason not to now. 

Being careful not to disrupt his knee too much, he crawled over to where his bag was and dug his phone out of it. He smiled when he switched it on, because he already had two new text messages.

_**Sean Cullen** : wen u wake up read this first so u know this isnt ur fault cause i kno ur blamin urself!_

_**Liam Payne** : txt me when u get this so i know ure ok xx_

Liam had already done him one better and Niall didn't know if he should have felt guilty or grateful. He wasn't used to feeling so down, the past few weeks had taken him on a roller coaster he never would have dreamed of. But he wouldn't have traded it – any of it.

Except maybe the part where he was going home, but there was nothing that could be done about that now.

He sent Liam a quick text.

_**Niall Horan:** yeh feelin pretty knackered... come up to my room when u can. 1508._

Then he waited.

***

Liam was in Louis' room with a bunch of his other teammates celebrating their win when his phone buzzed in his pocket and his heart subsequently leapt into his throat.

Amidst the cheers and rowdyness, he pulled out his phone. It was hard to contain the grin on his face when he saw the very message he had been hoping for all evening.

Now he just had to try to get away without being noticed.

He leaned over to Louis. “Hey mate, I'm going to head out.”

Louis raised his eyebrow. “What, did your mistress come calling?”

Liam shrugged, too overjoyed and excited about the prospect of going to talk to Niall (and hopefully sort things out) to be annoyed with Louis. “Something like that.”

He half expected Louis to roll his eyes and make some kind of comment about how his loyalties were obviously with the other team, but he didn't. He must have been too wasted to care.

“Go on then,” Louis waved him off. “Celebrate in your own way,” he laughed.

Liam just shook his head as he waved a quick goodbye to the others. He walked as quick as he could down the hall and to the lift, tapping his feet once he was inside. He nearly sprinted towards Niall's room once he was on the 15th floor.

And when he stood in front of Niall's door he took a deep breath and knocked.

Niall hobbled over to the door as fast as he could (which wasn't very) as soon as he heard the soft knock that was unmistakably Liam's.

He pulled the door open and instantly unable to contain the grin that threatened to overtake his face. Pain in his knee be damned.

“Hi,” he said, ushering Liam inside.

“Hi.” Liam walked in looked at Niall, standing there trying to keep all of his weight off of his right knee. He scooped Niall's arm over his shoulder and led him over to the bed.

Niall looked up at him gratefully once they were both sitting down. “Thanks.”

“How is it?” Liam asked, glancing down at Niall's bandaged knee.

Niall shrugged. “I think they have to operate on it when I get home. Now's as good a time as any, I suppose. Since the season's over.”

Liam nodded. He absolutely hated that it was all over for Niall, but what could he do? He couldn't exactly try to be sympathetic, given that he was still a participant in the tournament.

Niall took a deep breath. If he was rubbish at emotional stuff, he was rubbish at apologies as well. But Liam had rushed over to him on the pitch, he'd obviously rushed to his room the moment he'd gotten the text... he deserved one. Hell, he deserved a lot more than a simple apology, but that was the best Niall could do at the moment.

“Look, Liam,” he said slowly, scratching the back of his neck. “I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for this to become such a mess.”

Liam shrugged. He didn't really care – the only thing that had concerned him was how this was affecting Niall. Sure, their argument had bothered him, and Niall basically kicking him out of his hotel room hadn't been much fun either, but it had been understandable given the circumstances.

“I didn't,” Niall said, shaking his head. “I should have known what I was getting myself into, but I just expected that everything would turn out okay.”

“Niall-”

“And Ali – fuck. I shouldn't have trusted her. I should have known that she was going to get in the way and do something stupid because of her silly crush on me. I thought if I ignored it it'd be okay and if she met you she'd really see that nothing was going to happen with us.”

“Niall-” Liam tried again, but was still cut off my Niall's babble.

“And fuck, I just didn't want to piss off my coach. He gave me a chance being on this team and the last thing I wanted to do was blow it and let him down. I didn't want the whole country to look at me like I was a disgrace wrapped up in some scandal that meant more to me than football does. I just-”

This time it was Liam's turn to cut Niall off, and he did so with his lips on his mouth.

“I'm sorry,” Niall said, when Liam pulled away.

“Don't be,” Liam said, shaking his head and smiling at Niall a little bit.

Niall just gave him a look. “I shouldn't have taken it out on you. It wasn't your fault.”

“It was just bad timing,” Liam agreed, leaning in to kiss Niall again.

“Bad timing, yeah,” Niall said, pulling away slightly. “S'pose the same could be said for my knee, then,” he laughed slightly, looking back down at his bandages. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”

“Anytime,” Liam said – and he meant it. “I'm sorry that it had to end like that.” He really was, too. If it hadn't been for the sake of his team, he likely would have done everything he could've to have kept Niall in the running.

“Yeah...” Niall trailed off. He really didn't want to go home, and when he looked over at Liam. “Me too. But I suppose it worked out. At least the way that it was, one of us was guaranteed to move on.”

Liam only shrugged and looked down at the bedspread.

“Liam,” Niall said seriously. “Come on, you can't possibly be upset about that. You get to stay and face Brazil of all teams! It's exciting, it's nothing to frown about,” he said, leaning in towards Liam a bit. “I'm happy for you.”

Liam knew he should have been happy as well, and he wanted to be. He did, but it was just so difficult knowing that Niall was going to get on a plane and not be out there cheering for him. “I can't do it,” he muttered. “I don't care about football half as much as any of those guys out there.”

“You can,” Niall said. “You got here, didn't you?”

“You kept me here,” Liam said, finally looking up and into Niall's eyes. “I was so... bored with it all until you showed up.”

Niall frowned. He couldn't understand that at all – football was his entire life. His passion – to hear Liam say that he was bored with it? That was unfathomable to him. But even in the midst of the tournament being over for him, it didn't seem so bad with Liam sitting there beside him.

“I'll stay,” Niall said slowly, working out the logistics of that in his head as he spoke. His team would probably be annoyed with him for staying behind when they were all going home, but he really couldn't care less. The tournament was over for them, and he was going to see Liam and England through to the end. 

“You can't,” Liam said, as though the very notion was ridiculous.

“I can,” Niall nodded. “I mean, it'll probably piss some people off, yeah, but it doesn't matter. I'll stay in the stands and cheer you on.”

“You're being ridiculous.”

“You'd do the same for me,” Niall pointed out.

Liam nodded. He would have, there was no question about that. There was also no question that he wanted Niall to stay – but his eyes drifted down to his knee again.

“You can't,” he said again, even though it was the opposite of what he so desperately wanted. “You need to get that looked at and fixed so you can play next season.”

Niall looked down and shrugged his shoulders slightly. Yes, he supposed Liam was right. But the way it was looking right now, he probably was going to be benched for the first part of the next season anyway. He gulped because he didn't even want to think about it. It was bad enough that he wasn't going to continue on in the tournament.

“You don't want to go home and have them tell you it's over,” Liam said softly, voicing Niall's thoughts exactly.

“I'll make an appointment as soon as I get back,” Niall said firmly, looking back up at Liam and ignoring what he'd just said. He didn't want to touch those feelings – not while everything was about to spill out of him. Not while he was doing everything in his power to keep himself from dwelling on Ireland's loss and thinking the worst. “I'll even call them tomorrow, they probably wouldn't be able to see me for a couple weeks anyway. You know how these things go.”

Liam looked at him sympathetically, his lips pressed together and his eyes full of concern. “It's going to be alright, you know.”

Niall sighed, nodding his head even though tears were starting to pool in his eyes. His throat tightened as he thought about his career being taken from him so early. Before it had a chance to even get started, really.

“It will,” Liam said firmly, placing his hand on Niall's back. “Seen plenty of players get back on the pitch after something like this.”

Niall kept nodding his head, swallowing and looking back up at Liam. The entire tournament should have been a bad memory for him. It should have taught him multiple lessons that he never learned. Instead he was sitting here with the exact boy who had caused a fair share of his troubles and made him feel things that he didn't even know were possible.

“I'm staying here with you,” he said seriously. 

“Then you're seeing a doctor here,” Liam said just as seriously, but he couldn't help cracking a small smile. He leaned in and hugged Niall tightly, breathing a sigh of relief. Everything that had been stuck and bottled up inside him was gone. Aside from the obvious issue with Niall's knee, things were exactly how they should have been.

“Yeah,” Niall said, his voice muffled by Liam's chest. “Alright.”

They embraced for a few more minutes, holding each other tightly and allowing the comfortable silence to fill the room.

“Are we cool?” Niall asked softly, leaning his tired head on Liam's shoulder and kissing his neck.

“Of course,” Liam sighed, feeling at ease for the first time in days. “We're cool.”


	15. Chapter 15

_**ENGLAND MOVES ON... LEAVES IRELAND IN THEIR DUST** _

_Or should we say... on the pitch? We thought that it would be tense and dramatic having England and Ireland matched up against each other, but Scapers, even we couldn't have predicted something like this._

_Our new favourite Irish footballer succumbed to injury close to the beginning of the second half. We were biting our nails, forgetting to breathe, we thought this was it._

_But then! Our very own Liam Payne rushed to his love's aide, ignoring the match going on around him._

_Don't believe us? Take a look at the photo._

_Isn't he just darling? Needless to say, after Horan was taken off the pitch, play continued with a stunning victory for England._

_But honestly, let's look at that photo again. Oh what we wouldn't give to have Liam Payne look at us like that!_

_We'd say they're both winners._

Niall smiled to himself as he looked down at the pitch a week later. In five minutes one of four quarter-final matches would begin, and in a couple of hours he'd know whether Liam was going to be headed back home, or moving onto the semi-finals.

He gulped. The air in the stadium was tense – especially if you were there to support England. Not many were, given that their opponents were Brazil. 

Niall's knuckles were nearly white when he looked down at them. He's been gripping on the railing in front of him a little too hard as he sat in the stands and waited. He wanted to believe in England and that Liam would move on, he really did, but with the stats the way they were...

Simply put, it didn't look good.

He knew Liam was worried too.

_“You guys have been training all week,” Niall had pointed out that morning as Liam was getting ready to head down to the stadium._

_“I know,” Liam sighed, tapping his foot nervously. “It's just that...”_

_“I know,” Niall nodded. There was no need to say it – they both already knew. Brazil was a giant and their odds were even better given that the tournament was being held in their home country. “But you've got to play your best. It's all you can do. Don't give up before it's even started.”_

_Liam smiled. “You're right.”_

_Niall shrugged. “I'm always right. I know everything there is to know about football.”_

_“Except how to win a Round of 16 match,” Liam joked._

_“Hey now,” Niall said, clutching his hand to his chest, but laughing all the same._

The whistle blew and the teams walked out single file onto the pitch. Liam took a deep breath as he looked up into the crowd. He was sure he'd never been so nervous in his life – and that included the last time he'd been in this situation.

But a week ago, he'd been nervous to see Niall. Now, the only thing that was helping him keep it together was his boyfriend's presence. Every day that week as he talked with Niall and confided in him, he began to feel that excitement and passion for the sport come back.

_“Louis thinks we've got it easy, of course,” Liam said as he and Niall were cuddled up under the hotel room sheets a few days prior._

_“Such an optimist,” Niall said with a grin, snuggling up closer to Liam._

_“Not if you ask him – he just thinks he's a realist.”_

_“It's not totally unlikely, Liam.”_

_“England haven't won a cup since 1966, Niall.”_

_“Suppose you'll just have to change that then, won't you, Liam?”_

Niall kept his hand over his chest as _God Save the Queen_ played over the loudspeaker. He glanced down. He had to focus to tell which of the players was Liam, since he was so high up. But when he did, he smiled to himself.

Then he silently prayed that England would win, even if that would cause a riot in the stadium.

Play commenced soon after that. Niall held his breath until he realised what he was doing – the he resorted to biting his bottom lip. He leaned back in his seat, careful to keep any weight off of his still damaged knee.

Within the first five minutes Brazil scored a goal and Niall felt his stomach drop. He knew not to let himself get too worked up this early in a match. Things could change at any time – he knew that all too well. After all, Ireland had been up 1 – 0 in their last match and look where that got him.

Still, he leaned in and pressed his lips together as play continued. “Come on, Liam,” he whispered to himself. “You can do this, love.”

_“Man, I'm looking forward to 2018 already,” Niall said, a smile playing on his lips as he and Liam sat in the lounge at the restaurant the evening after the rest of the Irish team went home._

_“Yeah?” Liam asked, taking a sip of his third or fourth beer._

_“'Course,” Niall said eagerly. “We'll do better next time, you'll see. This is just the beginning for Ireland. We're going to be a big name in footer by the time I'm done with it! All the best players will come out of Ireland.”_

_Liam laughed. The twinkle in his eyes, the wide grin on his face... everything about Niall was simply adorable. “How can you be so confident? Where do you get that from?”_

_Niall shrugged. “I love football.”_

_“I love you,” Liam blurted out,_

_Niall gave him a look. “No you don't,” he laughed. “It's been two weeks, Payne. But thanks all the same.”_

Twenty minutes into the first half and Liam hadn't so much as an assist – hell, his team had barely made a shot on goal.

Meanwhile, Brazil was kicking their asses. They'd managed to score another goal while Liam was looking over at Simon, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was stone-faced.

Which meant he was obviously enraged.

Liam glanced up at the stands. Niall was up there somewhere rooting for him, and that was the only thing that kept Liam from losing his mind.

So he took a deep breath and focused all his energy on playing the best match he could.

_“Would you ever consider playing in England?” Liam asked. It was completely out of the blue – he and Niall were just sitting around his hotel room watching TV. A particularly boring episode of How I Met Your Mother was playing out in front of them._

_“Huh?”_

_Liam laughed, it was just like Niall to get caught up like that. “England. I know you said that this was just the beginning for Ireland, but-”_

_“The Irish National Team, I meant,” Niall clarified. “You'll also recall I said all the good players would come out of Ireland. Doesn't matter where they go, they'd still be Irish,” he shrugged._

_“So you would play in England, then?”_

_“Of course I would. If they offered me a good contract, sure. There's loads of great teams in England.”_

_Liam just smiled softly, leaving his head on Niall's shoulder as they continued to watch the show._

Niall put his head in his hands as play continued during the second half. Brazil was still up two points and England had yet to score a goal. They hadn't even come close. Brazil's defence was tight, they were intercepting every pass and hardly allowing England to get the ball onto the other half of the pitch.

It was frustrating. Niall had never felt so passionately about an England match in his life. In fact, when he'd been younger he'd never cheered for the English National Team. His father had always told him it was a waste because “They usually found some fabulous way to screw things up.”

Niall sighed. At least this time it didn't seem like it was really their fault. The simple fact was that they were just playing a team who was better than they were. 

_“You're getting that looked at when you get home, right?” Liam asked Niall as he caught his boyfriend from nearly falling over as they walked down the hall to the hotel room. Niall was hopeless on crutches._

_“Yeah, got a surgery date booked in a couple of weeks. Besides, the doctor here said that after they fix me up and do some physio I should be all right” Niall nodded, his mouth turned down in a frown. He hated being out of commission like this. “Gotta get back out on the pitch, don't I?” he laughed._

_“Yeah,” Liam said seriously. “You do.”_

The whistle blew and Liam, along with the rest of the English team, hung their heads in defeat.

Brazil was moving on to the semi-finals and without even one goal in their final match, England was headed home.

They walked off the pitch silently, and Liam threw his arm around Louis' shoulders.

“We put up a good fight, didn't we?” he asked.

Louis just looked up at him like he was crazy. “Are you mad? The mopped the floor with us.”

Liam only laughed – because really, there was nothing else he could do at that point. “Yeah, you're right.”

They sighed as they made their way back to the locker room to pick up their things. After being whisked back to the hotel, Liam darted straight back up to his room. A few others from his team were going out for a post-match (and post-tournament) drink, but Liam reckoned that would still be going on later. He could join them then.

He opened the door and he saw Niall sitting there on the bed. He walked over to him and enveloped the Irish boy in a tight hug.

“Sorry, Liam,” Niall said, wrapping his arms around him. “I know you tried your best.”

“I don't want to go home,” Liam said, chocking back a sob. He'd actually been enjoying the tournament for the past week. To think that it was all over, and on top of that he'd have to part ways with Niall for a little while, was absolutely heartbreaking. “I just don't. I don't want to be away from you.”

“I know,” Niall said softly. “But we'll still talk. We'll still get to see each other. Dublin's not that far from London. Once my knee's all fixed up I'll come visit you. And you can come visit me.”

Liam just nodded, nuzzling his head into Niall's shoulder. At least Niall would be able to get his knee taken care of sooner, instead of staying in Brazil any longer. That was a silver lining to all of this. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I just really wanted to win, you know?” he asked, feeling hot tears fall from his eyes and onto Niall's skin.

“Yeah,” Niall agreed, still holding onto him. “Me too.”


	16. Epilogue

_“GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!”_

Niall Horan pulled his shirt over his head as he ran around the pitch at Pride Park Stadium. He pumped his fist in the air, waving the black and white jersey around. The crowd was one of the loudest he'd ever heard, even louder than some of those in Brazil two years prior.

And among them, cheering just as loud as anyone was the love of his life, Liam Payne.

“A massive goal in extra time for number nine forward, Niall Horan! His first season with Derby County and he's just helped the team win The Football Championship this year – in 2016 for the first time since the 80's!”

Niall stopped running and placed his hands on his knees as he looked downwards and caught his breath. He glanced down at his right knee and sighed. Even after his surgery immediately following the 2014 World Cup, weeks of intense physiotherapy and spending nearly half the 2014 – 2015 season on the bench, he still had all the fire and passion in the world. 

A huge grin was plastered on his face as he looked back up at the fans in the stands. It wasn't long before his teammates were piling up around him, enveloping him in a massive group hug.

The crowd continued to cheer and the team congratulated each other enthusiastically. The entire stadium didn't stop screaming and chanting for what seemed like hours.

Everything was a blur for Niall, not believing what had just happened. In fact, that entire year had been surreal.

Long distance had been hard. Between Niall living in Dublin and Liam still living in London and being constantly on the go while playing for Chelsea, they had a difficult time seeing each other. Sure, there were trips every now and again to visit for a few days at a time, but they were never enough and always far too short.

Though Niall loved Dublin and was Irish through and through, the moment the news came to him that his contract was looking to be traded to Derby County he couldn't have been more thrilled. In fact, he'd ducked out of the meeting partway to hide in the loo and ring Liam.

It worked out rather well, Niall thought as he walked off the pitch and gave a final wave to the stands. Playing in England was definitely a step forward for his career as a footballer – and the team had been nothing short of a fantastic opportunity.

He hadn't even had to live in Derby – as it turned out most of his teammates lived in London.

So, after a couple of awkward weeks of Niall having his own flat yet never using it, he made his and Liam's lives much easier by just moving in with him.

And when Niall saw the bright smile on Liam's face as he walked back into their locker room, he knew he'd made the right decision. Not like there had ever been any doubt in his mind to begin with.

“Congratulations,” Liam said with a grin, walking up to Niall amidst all the ruckus happening around them.

Niall continued grinning. He didn't think he would ever be sad again. Not when he'd just helped his team win the championship, and certainly not with Liam looking at him with such pride.

He didn't say a word. Instead he threw his arms around his boyfriend and kissed him with excitement. He was sure that this was the single greatest moment of his life.

Liam pulled away from him after a moment. He was grinning from ear to ear now as well. “I love you,” he said. “And congratulations again.”

“I love you too,” Niall replied breathlessly, leaning upwards to quickly kiss Liam once more. “And thanks, again,” he laughed.

There was cheering and celebrating and commotion going on all around them. Niall knew that he would join his team right away, but for a couple seconds more he just wanted to share the moment with Liam and Liam alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end! I just want to say thank you to everyone who read this, commented, left kudos and bookmarked. You guys are the best! This story got so much more of a response then I ever thought it would :) I really enjoyed writing it and I'm glad that I finally did since I had the idea for a really long time before I started plotting it out and working on it.
> 
> Much love! xx


	17. Endline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little something I wrote a while ago when Niall was all decked out in Chelsea gear :)

Niall Horan had never been so eager for a football practice to be over in his life.

He and his teammates were doing drills as they always did in the lead up to the season. Niall tugged on his bright blue shirt and wiped the sweat from his forehead onto his arm.

He looked up into the stands and sighed a little. There was no one there watching him.

He shook his head and went back to concentrating on the task at hand. Getting the ball into the net. It wasn't hard - he'd done it loads of times before. Times that mattered much more than this.

He kicked the ball and it bounced off the side bar of the net. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and bit his lip.

"Sloppy, Horan!" a teammate of his laughed and playfully slapped him on the back.

Niall just laughed, but inside he knew he could do better. He nervously looked up at the stands again.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving his hand. "Gotta get all my rough shots out now so we can win that Premier League championship."

"Haven't won a championship since 2014," Louis said to him with a slight smirk.

"Six years is a long time," Niall said to him. "We're due for a win."

Louis just laughed. "I'll say. Aren't you supposed to be our lucky charm?"

Niall shrugged, but the smile was still present on his face. Ever since he'd been traded to Chelsea two years prior, Louis had dubbed him their "lucky charm." It hadn't exactly been accurate since they'd had yet to win the premiership, but they had finished in the top five his first season, and the top three the season after that. So this year, Niall was determined to win it all.

He was also determined to do as best he could at their practise, but so far he wasn't having much luck.

He glanced up at the stands again. A few people at filtered in, but none of them were the people he wanted to see.

There was no time for him to dwell on that, since his coach blew the whistle and he ran to get into formation.

Each of them took turns kicking a ball and aiming for the net. It wasn't a particularly difficult drill, but Niall's heart was pounding the whole time and his nerves got the the better of him.

"What's the matter, Horan?" Louis laughed once they were finished. "Thought you'd have loads of experience with balls," he smirked.

Niall just rolled his eyes. He'd learned long ago to just let his friend's comments roll off of his back. They were all meant in good fun, after all.

"Yeh," Niall said. "Suppose I'm just a bit off today."

Their team ran through a number of other drills, and by the end of the day Niall was out of breath and sweating through his training kit. He hasn't thought he'd let himself get that out of shape over the couple months he'd had off.

He leaned over, trying to catch his breath with his hands resting on his bent knees.

But as tired as he was, one glance up at the stands and his chest felt a bit lighter. There was a definite smile on his face as he stood up and waved.

Looking back at him, Liam waved back with a grin on his face. As did their three year old daughter, who was decked out in full Chelsea kit. Complete with a royal blue ribbon in her hair.

He motioned for them to come down and join him on the pitch and grinned as he stood up, eagerly waiting for them.

"Daddy!" she shouted as she entered the pitch, running at full speed towards Niall. Liam followed behind her, walking at quite a slower speed but still smiling as he watched her.

Niall knelt down and outstretched his arms. She almost toppled him over when she hit him, but Niall was quick to regain his balance and pick her up.

"You're all wet!" she squealed, burying her head in Niall's shoulder anyway.

"Well, yeah," he said with a laugh. "I was working hard out there, didn't you see?"

She nodded brightly. "You're the best."

"Rubbish," Louis said with a laugh, walking up to them. "He is not."

"Better than you are," Liam said, wiggling his eyebrows a bit.

Louis laughed as he reached out to shake Liam's hand. "Right, right. Missed you around here, Payne. Fancy coming back to the team?"

Laim just smiled and shook his head. He looked at Niall, still holding their daughter tightly, her arms clutched firmly around his neck. "No, I don't think so. Got my hands full enough with this one all day."

Louis just nodded his head. Instead he turned his attention to the girl firmly attached to Niall. "And how about you, Claire-bear? Do you think you want to join the team?"

Her eyes lit up and she turned her head to look at Niall, as if to ask for confirmation.

"I think it'll have to wait a few years, Claire-bear," he laughed as he gently set her back down on the ground. "But there's a few balls over there that didn't make it into the net. Why don't you show us what you've got?"

That was all it took for her to take off running over to the net and start kicking the stray balls leftover from their practise.

"She's the spitting image of the two of you, I hope you know that," Louis said with a slight laugh as the three of them watched her.

"That's just because she's wearing the same outfit as me," Niall pointed out. Claire was still quickly kicking a ball with her feet, her dark brown ponytail bouncing as she did so.

"GOAAAAAL!" Claire shouted as she kicked the ball into the net. She threw her hands up into the air and turned back to make sure she'd been seen.

The three men all clapped and cheered of course. Leading Claire to take another one of the scattered soccer balls and start kicking it towards the net yet again.

"Hmm, somehow I don't think that’s the _only_ reason," Louis laughed, winking at Niall.

Niall just shrugged, blushing a little bit. Liam smiled, draping his arm around his husband.

"Have you told her there's a second one on the way yet?" Louis asked softly.

Niall shook his head. "Not yet."

"That one will be the spitting image of you," Liam assured Niall, kissing him on the forehead.

Louis rolled his eyes. "Your perfect family is sickening to watch. I'm out of here. Horan, don't sleep in tomorrow," he said as he ran off the pitch.

Liam gave Niall a look. "Ever the drama queen," he said, still keeping his eyes on Claire.

"You got that right," Niall laughed. "We’re far from perfect."

Liam shrugged, pulling Niall in closer to him. "Wouldn't trade either of you for the world," he said softly.

Niall smiled as he leaned against Liam's chest. "Yeah," he said. "Me neither."

 

 


End file.
